Christmas Misfits
A DeAngelo Christmas Chronicle
By Michael and Rhianna DeAngelo

“How am I supposed to tell this story?” Michael asked, a weary smile stretching across his face.

The trio of pups all snuggled together on the couch in the human-sized dog bed—one that was not originally intended for them, mind you—and had no energy left for that cold day.  Maisie was safely tucked under a blanket, just her nose sticking out, while Luna leaned against her, the dog’s eyes drooping as she gave in to fatigue.  The only one who still had some semblance of energy was Zelda, the older dog rolling over on her back as Michael aimed his phone camera at the trio of animals.

“That’s right Zelda.  You’ve got to get your glamour shot practice in for all your Christmas posts on social media.”  He hummed to himself and turned to the kitchen then.  “Hey Rhianna, do you think we take some videos of them talking once the Christmas magic kicks in, and post that?”

“No,” she called out from the kitchen.  “At best, the internet just thinks we’re hamming it up and faking the voices with one of our own.  At worst, they try and take our dogs and put them in the circus!”

Michael chuckled to himself.  “Well, Luna is as big as an elephant.”  He ruffled the fur around her neck, and she yawned in response.

“You’ll give her a complex,” Rhianna said.  “Here, distract yourself with this.  I think it’s done!”

As Michael turned around to head toward the kitchen, his wife emerged from there, holding an ornate wand in her hand.  It had all the elements of Christmas there.  Nestled at the base was a large quartz point that looked at a glance like an icicle, and it was surrounded by sculpted holly leaves with red berries.  Small, glittering rainbow tourmaline crystals were haloed by shimmering paints that seemed to set the evergreen color of the wand handle aglow, a nod to the lumibugs of Tellest.  The shaft of the wand was carved in a spiral and painted in bright red and white.

“Wow, that’s beautiful,” Michael said, his eyes glowing from the sparkle of the crystals.

“Do you think they’ll like it?” Rhianna asked.

“Well, we’ll know soon enough,” her husband replied with a smile.

The dogs seemed not to know what day it was.  On such occasions, just two nights before Christmas, the pair with more experience were usually a little keener on what was happening.  It was not often those days that the family stayed up that well into the evening, with even Michael seeming to tap into some energy that he had on reserve.  Luna, however, had made a habit that year of growing incredibly tired long before Michael and Rhianna had even had a thought about beginning their nighttime routine.

But as soon as the wind whipped about just a bit more than normal, Zelda popped up her head.  Though she was the smallest of them, that action was the biggest and loudest that any of the trio had made in the time since they had snuggled up in the oversized bed.  Maisie sat up then, the blanket draping over the top of her head, leaving her looking as though she was wearing a cloak.  Luna, meanwhile, tilted to the side, looking bleary-eyed and caught halfway to oblivion still.

“All right, doggies,” Rhianna said, drawing a little closer with her yuletide wand in hand.  “Think about all the things you want to say, because in just a few moments, Christmastime will officially be upon us.”

She pointed at Maisie with the wand then and raised her voice a few octaves.  “Please, authorities, arrest this woman.  She’s starving me.”  Then, returning to her own voice, Rhianna swept the blanket back off the pup’s head, and gave her a few loving pets.  “Oh, but Maisie, you’re looking so good, and it’ll help your bum leg a lot in the long run.”

“We need someone to make sure we’re eating the right amounts,” Michael said, smacking his stomach.  “Otherwise, what’s going to help us with our bum legs?”

Rhianna pivoted on her heel and pointed the wand at her husband.  “Silence,” she said with a feigned deep, wizardly voice.  The wand crafter turned back to the trio of dogs then, and pointed her Christmas wand at Zelda then, switching up her voice again.  “I demand that every inch of this house be constructed of the same material as this bed.”  She moved on to Luna then, pointing the wand at her.  But before she could say a word, Luna licked the gemstone at the end of the wand.

Michael pretended to gasp, then.  “A blessing!” he cried with mock exuberance.

Luna didn’t react much to that exclamation of her sacred duty, her eyes lightly shutting as her mouth opened for another big yawn.

“So sleepy,” she said, and her eyes grew wide at the sound of the translated words squeaky out from her throat.

“Yay!” Rhianna shouted then, waving her wand.  “The magic works.”

Maisie and Zelda were the first to pry themselves from the bed, immediately exploding with energy that seemed like it might not have arrived.

“Here’s the food I want,” Maisie said.  “A leg of lamb, some cheesy crackers, a dozen—”

“Give me my medicine!” Zelda shouted.  “My bones are creaky!”

“Oh,” Rhianna said, turning about to hurry to the kitchen.  “I had been working on the wand for so long today, I completely forgot.  You have to remember to tell me these things, Zelda.”

“I couldn’t speak until ten seconds ago!”

Luna was ready to descend from the bed and the couch then, and the largest of the trio seemed to ooze from her comfortable spot.  Once her front paws were on the ground, she stretched out as far as she could.

“Will there be naps where we’re going?” she asked.

Michael tousled the fur on her head then.  “You all seem a bit quieter this year.”  As the words seemed to descend from his lips, he bowed his head, and let his gaze draw toward the stairs.  “Come on then.  Aren’t you excited to see Santa and all your friends?”

“Will they want to take naps when we get there?” Luna asked, failing to stifle a yawn.

Rhianna chuckled and reached down to pet the other two pups, who had made their way into the kitchen.  “You might be tired now, but remember, it’s always a good time whenever Santa sends us on our adventure.”

Almost as soon as she spoke, she could see a few flurries begin to form outside the rear door of the house.  They swirled about slowly, spinning above the grass, with no other signs of snow having fallen.  As she neared the sliding door, she could see that the snow hadn’t come from the sky, but from below.

“The portal is forming!” Rhianna said with glee.  She slid the door open and hurried outside, eager to take their annual trip to Tellest.

Zelda and Maisie were quick to follow her, with no hesitation about heading out into the unseasonably warm night air.

Inside, Michael tried to encourage Luna forward, but she let a little grumble slip from her mouth, and she rolled to her side instead.

“We can’t stay here,” Michael said.  “You don’t want everyone else to have all the fun without you.”

Luna rolled on her back, then, and thrust her arms into the air.  “I’m in a grumpy mood!” she said in an almost singsong tone.

Michael smiled then, grabbing her by her outstretched arms and gently pulling her toward the kitchen.  “That’s okay.  We’re all allowed to have those.  You’re just going to have yours in the snow at the North Pole!”

As Michael reached for her, the biggest of the DeAngelo dogs shook her body, flailing her arms unceremoniously.  It didn’t serve her well enough, for she was scooped up in the next instant, and rolled to her feet before Michael placed her on the ground.  Once there, it was as if all the grumpiness subsided, and she skittered forward, across the living room and kitchen floors, and out the sliding door to meet the rest of the family.

Rhianna waved her on, and then waited a moment later to wave her husband closer as well when he emerged from the house.

Michael hesitated at the door, keeping it open for a moment.  He shook his head though, seeming as if he drew himself from a trance.  When he spotted his wife there, a bright smile appeared on his face, and he shuffled forward.

“One good thing about the warmer night,” he said.  “My legs don’t ache nearly as much as they normally would.”

“Well, I don’t mean to give you any bad news, but I suspect we’ll be playing in the snow in just a little bit.”

He remained smiling and grabbed his wife in a loving embrace.  “It’s all right.  These kinds of trips are all worth it.”

While he spoke, the ground seemed to crumble away, and a growing sinkhole appeared instead, a radiant white light spilling up and out of the aperture.  The quintet could see the portal spinning and they looked a bit hesitant to take a step closer.

“Why is it that this looks a bit different every year?” Rhianna raised her voice as the vortex churned and grew louder.

“It keeps us on our toes?” Michael wondered aloud.  “Maybe Santa is experimenting with new technology all the time.  “This is the Santa-Portal-Twenty-Three.”

“Patent pending,” Rhianna said.

Maisie sniffed a little close to the portal then, and Luna hurried on ahead, shepherding the little black and white dog back.  “If we’re going in, we’re going in together!” the big auburn-furred dog shouted.

“That’s right,” Rhianna cried, though her voice could barely be heard over the sound of the portal then.  “We stick together!”

Zelda did not seem inclined to listen to that mantra then.  The oldest of the dogs burst forward, leaping into the air.  “To adventure!” Zelda cheered, and for a short while, she hovered in the air above the portal, until the pull of the magic spun her about to face her family.  “See you when we get there!”

With a fwoomp, Zelda disappeared into the depths of the portal, fading out of sight.

The rest of the DeAngelo family took turns looking at one another, and then, in unison, sprang forward, to jump above the portal as well.  They watched as more puffs of snow seemed to greet them from the other side, but before they could focus on any flakes in particular, the magic tugged them through time and space, toward an enchanted place far, far away.

*          *          *

Zelda, first to leap into the pull of the portal’s magic, was the first to arrive at the snowy North Pole.  She landed with grace and poise, prancing forward as though she was one of Santa’s majestic reindeer.

Behind her though, the portal announced its activation once more with a subtle hum.  She turned around to see the rest of her family arrive together, and they did not land with the same elegance that she did.  The four other DeAngelo family members landed in one jumbled mass, tumbling in the snow until they came to a stop as a tangled mess.

“Ooh, ooh, charley horse!” Luna groaned as she pulled herself from the group.

Michael, Rhianna, and Maisie all glared at Luna as they rubbed their legs or lifted it off the ground in order to alleviate the pain that came from old age and disagreeable limbs and joints.

The portal had brought them far closer to Santa’s home than in their most recent Christmas trips.  Indeed, they could feel the warmth—if not from the burning hearth within, than from the legendary figure of the season himself.  The burly fellow stretched his arms out wide in salutation.  Luna thought it was an invitation, however, and she leapt at Santa, landing across his broad chest.  Even the powerful Norse god-turned-holiday figurehead stumbled backward a step. In shock and surprise, he erupted into a big belly laugh as he lowered the dog back to the ground.

“My friends, it is wonderful to see you again—and on solid ground to start this year, no less.  Everyone here has been talking about your escapades, and I must say, your reputation is starting to precede you quite a bit.  The five of you have become heroes of Christmas in your own right.”  He feigned a more somber appearance then and waggled his gloved finger at the family then.  “Don’t go thinking you’re at the top of that list though.  You’ve got a long way to go before you take my crown.”

When Santa noticed his mirth was not as infectious as he liked, receiving only polite smiles instead, he cleared his throat, and waved the group on.  Together, they began heading toward his house, the smoke puffing from the chimney and raucous laughter erupting from within.

“What great journey do you have us planned for this year?” Rhianna asked.  “Did another of your brothers use a mighty hammer to accidentally break a continent in two, and you need us to put it back together again?”

“Are we traveling to Alpha Centauri to deliver presents to aliens?” Michael wondered.

“Is there a feast in desperate need of eating?” Maisie piped up.

Santa turned around and tapped his finger to his nose then.  “Your little one is absolutely right with that last one.  Things are not so bad this year that we need to send you on any quests or have you saving the world.”

He opened the door to his home, and the sounds of jubilation poured out.  It truly did seem like everyone was having a wonderful time, and that there were far fewer pressing matters than in years past.

It also seemed like there was food aplenty, and the trio of dogs lifted their snouts to the air to take it all in.

“Well go on, then,” Santa said.  “We’ve got a full spread in there, and your friends would no doubt love to see you after all this time.”

Luna and Maisie, a little more inclined to search for some of the food, let their noses guide them.  But Zelda took a step in the house and tilted her head one direction or the other a few times, and then called out “Svetlana” with elongations on all the syllables, drawing laughter from the others who remained behind at the doorway.

“Before we go inside, there is something special I wanted to give to you and your wife,” Rhianna said.  She reached into her pocket then and drew out the special wand that she had crafted.  It seemed to sparkle even brighter in the presence of all the snow outside.

“My, my,” Santa said, taking the wand gently into his hand.  “This is incredible craftsmanship.  If I didn’t know any better, I would say you’re going to be taking control of your own workshop before long.  Perhaps you’ll even put me out of business!”  He accentuated his joke by slapping his hands against his broad belly and letting fly another of his loud laughs.

“Come then,” he said, clasping his hands on the husband and wife’s shoulders.  “Let us get inside and have a lovely time today.  I’d like very much to show everyone the new gift you just gave me.”  He hummed for a second and arched an eyebrow.  “You know, I’m the one who is supposed to be giving you gifts.”

“We always love receiving the things you give us,” Rhianna said.  “But we wanted to say thank you for all the wonderful things you’ve always done for us.”

Santa nodded.  “Well, I certainly appreciate that.  The season is, after all, about the cheer we can spread, not merely the presents that make our way under the tree—though they certainly help.  In any case though, spreading cheer is something that I am keen on doing for your family this year around.

“I’m pleased to say that there are no emergencies this year,” Santa went on.  “No wayward dragons, no ancient feuds gone unanswered for millennia, no villains desperately trying to stop Christmas from going off without a hitch.  This year, you’ve earned yourself some respite.  I know that it has been a difficult one for you, and you deserve the chance to heal.  After the job change and job loss, the fire consuming your childhood home, and…”  His words trailed off before he could say the final item on his list, but even Santa seemed to have some moisture on the rims of his eyes.

“Instead, today we’re going to have a lovely dinner with some good friends.  We won’t have any magically infused stones or treasures for your pups to grab hold of and cause any issues with, so you can just focus on listening to some good stories and telling some of your own.”

Michael and Rhianna looked at one another, and after a brief pause, they nodded at each other in agreement.

As they proceeded deeper into Santa’s house, they saw familiar faces—elves, dwarves, giants, and wizards—and spent a fair amount of time explaining all the different things that they had aimed to complete and accomplish that year, and all that they aspired to in the following one.

The two human visitors kept watchful eyes over the three pups they arrived with, but all three of the DeAngelo dogs seemed blissful in their time in the North Pole.  Zelda sat down in front of anyone who held a piece of food that looked as though they might be willing to share.  Maisie, a bit timid comparatively, hovered just farther back.  Luna, on the other hand, did not hesitate to stand up and try and take a few nibbles out of whatever food her snout could reach.

After a while of mingling and talking to the various friends they had met throughout the years, Michael and Rhianna finally found each other in one of the common areas.

Michael looked at his wife then and sighed.  “I’m glad the dogs are having a good time.  And I know that we had a lot of good news to share about what we did this year.  But…”

“Everyone here has gone on epic journeys and adventures,” Rhianna said, nodding.  “There is a lot of noise here, but for some reason it still feels too quiet.”

“There is something missing,” Michael agreed.

As soon as they let shared their feelings with one another, they watched as one of the elves—one they had not met during prior visits to the North Pole—hurried to Santa’s side and whispered something in his ear.  The jubilant fellow had a momentary flash of contrary emotion.  Was it fear or surprise or something different altogether?

In any case, as the elf took their leave, Santa hurried to the front of the room, standing in front of the fireplace to address his visitors.

“Ladies and lords, my esteemed guests,” he bellowed.  “I have to take a short leave to attend something of concern for one of our allies.  I should not be gone for long, and if luck will have it, I may even return before you’ve finished the first course of the feast yet to come!”

Michael and Rhianna exchanged glances as their host spoke those words, wondering if that was the moment they had been waiting for.  The DeAngelo pups hurried to the room when they heard Santa speak as well, conditioned at that point for the missions that the jolly fellow often sent them on.

“We are ready, Taskmaster!” Zelda cried.

Santa looked in the dog’s direction, but Michael and Rhianna were already there before him, nodding enthusiastically in agreement with their oldest pup’s sentiment.

“What can we do to help?” Michael asked.

“Just point us in whatever direction, and we’ll do what you need,” Rhianna added.

“What?” Santa asked, confused by the bid for work during the celebration.  “No… No, my friends, this task is truly beneath you.  It’s something that I can handle in moments once I arrive.  There’s no call for heroism, no need for a dangerous adventure.  You have earned the respite after all these years.  I want you to at last have a moment where you can simply sit back and breathe.”

“Oh,” Rhianna said.  “Of course.”

“If that’s what you want,” Michael said.

The trio of dogs at their feet watched the conversation unfold, but were a bit confused by what was being said.  As the family stood there, the voices of the other partygoers began to fill the building again.  Santa nodded, and stepped forth, patting Michael and Rhianna on their shoulders as he passed.

“No adventures?” Zelda asked as the Christmas legend departed from the room.

“But we always help Santa,” Maisie said.

Luna didn’t speak with her words, but a little hrmph slipped through her lips, and the rest of her family could see that she was about to descend into one of her tantrums.  As she started to lean, Michael bent down, wincing as his knees cracked, and held his hand at her side.

“We don’t need to make a scene,” he said.  “If Santa wants us to relax, then that’s what we’ll do, I guess.”

“He’s right,” Rhianna said.  “The six of us deserve a break.  After fighting Loki’s army, evil elves, and dire penguins, we—” Her words trailed off as she looked at her husband and saw that his face looked a little drained in that moment.  She realized her error in counting then, and she bowed her head, and let a sigh exit her body.

Before anyone could explore those thoughts further though, the quintet heard a sound from the closest adjacent room.

“Psst!” they heard again, and when they turned to investigate, they saw a familiar face looking their way.  The elven maiden was one of the first ones that they met in their time spent at the North Pole in years past and spotting her left a sudden warmth in the hearts of those who remembered her.

“Revan!” Rhianna cried, and she hurried to reach the elf, and wrapped her in a fierce embrace.

“It’s the pretty lady!” Zelda said, recognizing the maiden who had give them the potions that made her fly—and had her towering in a way that would even make Luna jealous—all those years ago.

“Hello again, Pretty Miss,” the elf said as Zelda hurried to her side.  Revan bent down to pet the auburn-furred dog, and Maisie and Luna could not hold off their jealousy at seeing their sister getting love and attention from someone else.  “Oh, it’s nice to finally meet you,” she said to the other dogs.  “I’ve heard such good things about you.”

Maisie flashed a canine grin, and almost looked as though she would start panting.  “You did?  What did we do?”

Her sister’s words permeated the air then, and Luna’s eyes went wide, and her ears went back.  “You didn’t hear the bad things about us too, did you?”

Revan merely tousled the hair on the back of Luna’s neck and rose to her feet once more.  “DeAngelo family, it’s so nice to see you again,” the elf said.  “If you wouldn’t mind following me for a moment, there’s something we need to discuss.”

Michael and Rhianna looked at each other with concerned countenances, but they did as they were instructed, falling into step beside one of Santa’s most trusted elves.  The trio of dogs hurried up behind them, almost bumping into their feet as they walked.

“Now look, I know that when you arrived here, Santa may have made some comments about trying to give you all a break, and that you deserve it after all these years—and you truly do, I’m not trying to say you aren’t—but there’s something that might just need your particular set of skills.”

Together, the six of them exited the rear of Santa’s house and walked through the snow for a bit.  A line of majestic pine trees, still covered with fresh powder, sat in front of them, and Revan brought the visitors around them, until they saw another building not so far away.

“Santa doesn’t quite know about what we’re going to discuss with you.  It’s sort of a favor to me and some of the other helpers.  I hope that’s okay.”

As she reached the door, Revan turned to her side, holding the way open for the members of the DeAngelo family.   When the family walked through the doorway, and saw what was inside, their faces lit up a bit.

All around the central room, which stretched far into the distance, old toys were carefully staged.  In the presence of the visitors, they seemed to come alive, clapping cymbals together, dancing in place, or chugging along on a track sitting high above the rest of the shelves.

The elven maiden hurried up again, overtaking the family while they investigated all the toys that seemed as though they were fashioned ages before.

“Is this Santa’s first workshop?” Michael asked.

“The same,” Revan replied.  “We don’t use it as such anymore—it’s more of a museum of that time—but we take special care of it for just that reason.  We elves will watch over it in sort of shifts, and it’s a very sacred duty to be in here.  But my partner and I have all our tasks wrapped up for the rest of the year.  The only thing left to do is… Well, I’ll let him tell you.”

As they passed into the next room, they found another elf who they were familiar with, but had not seen in quite some time.  The bearded fellow looked down at an old piece of parchment on a table, magnifying various places there with a piece of glass.  For a moment, the family members didn’t notice him, as he had a more studious look than the last time that they saw him.

“Leoden?” Rhianna asked.

The elf looked up then, and blinked a few times, adjusting his vision to something farther away than the table just below him.

“Ah, you’re finally here!” he exclaimed.

“I thought that was you!” Rhianna said.  “It was hard to tell now that you’re actually wearing appropriate clothes.”

The elf wore a feigned look of insult.  “When I work Santa’s forge, it gets exceedingly hot.  But I’ve since traded those days.  The work I did with your family actually saw me getting a promotion, and I’ve become an advisor of sorts.  Revan, too,” he said, gesturing toward the elven maiden who circled around to his side of the table.  “And it looks like you two are a bit underdressed today.  Where’s your special Tellest attire?”

“Well, we were told that we were just supposed to sit back and relax this year,” Michael replied.  “To be perfectly honest, I’m missing getting our outfit for the year.”

Revan flashed a smile and a wink.  “We’ll just have to remedy that, then.”

“And we’ll have to ask that you toss Santa’s promise of a relaxing time out the window as well,” Leoden said.  “We have something special to ask of you that Santa has been a little too busy to concern himself with these past few weeks.”

Rhianna’s eyes lit up.  “We’ll help with anything that needs doing.”

“I thought you’d say that,” the elf replied.  “You see, sometimes when the craftspeople who are working in Santa’s newer workshops are creating their toys, a little too much Christmas magic can find itself coming through the veil, and the toys that end up being created are a bit…different.”

Rhianna merely stared at Leoden for a moment, but Michael arched his eyebrow and tilted his head.  “Are you serious?”

“Oh, very much so,” Revan said with an enthusiastic nod.

Leoden continued.  “Because they’re different, these toys often achieve sentience, and, knowing they aren’t your typical toy, they—”

“They ran away to an island where they could commiserate and lament that they weren’t going to be loved by children on Christmas.”

Staring back at him with widening eyes, Leoden’s lips parted as he tried to make sense of the bizarre divination.  “That’s… Well, that’s absolutely correct.  How did you…?”

“This is just like the stop-motion special,” Rhianna said.

“The what now?” Revan asked.

Both Michael and Rhianna shook their heads then.  “Never mind,” they said in unison.

“So, do you want us to find this ‘Island of Misfit Toys’ to convince the toys that they can find happiness if they just believe?”

“No, not at all,” Leoden replied.  “We know where the island is.  We’ve actually sent a sort of ambassador there to help us out, but we’ve lost track of it.”

“And that’s not even the least of the problems,” Revan said.  “The island they call home is sinking.”

“So that’s the reason you sent the ambassador,” Rhianna said with a nod.  “You want them off the island before something terrible happens.”

“Exactly.”

“And it’s our job to pick things up where the ambassador left things off,” Michael understood.

“And to find the ambassador, if they’re still with us,” Leoden said.

“Well, we’re all for it, right everyone?” Rhianna said, looking at the rest of her family.

The younger two pups hesitated a bit, but Zelda stepped forward, striking a confident pose.  “To adventure!”

“It’s better than sitting here feeling…” Michael’s words trailed off then.  He folded his arms over his chest and blew out a sigh.  “It’s better than feeling fat and lazy the day before Christmas Eve.”

Revan clapped her hands together, a look of festive mirth upon her face.  “That’s wonderful news.  Now we just have to get you prepared and on your way.”

“Are we going to travel in another of Santa’s sleighs?” Rhianna asked.  “Another piece of old driftwood hanging around?”  She emphasized the one word in a peculiar way, and that had Leoden smiling as he considered what she said.

“You remembered!” he said.  “What did you think of all that?”

“Our second year helping out, Narala sent us a special tome that explained everything.  And, uh…I think Santa signed off on it as well.  The funeral boat that he was sent off on when he left Scandinavia became his sleigh.”

“That’s absolutely right,” Leoden confirmed.  “Though, the boat was big enough that they used parts of it to build their house as well.  It was tremendous enough where they had to have a frost giant push it from the shore—and she was much more powerful than most.  Even the gods weren’t able to move it.”

“And Nanna and Borti’s ancestor were the only other two who joined Balder—Santa, I mean—on his quest to a new world,” Michael surmised.

“Well, to the rest of the gods, it was to their certain doom, for the ship was bound to sink,” Leoden mused.  “How lucky we were that things did not quite transpire like that!

“But regretfully, you won’t be using Santa’s sleigh this day—any of them,” Leoden continued.  “We had a problem with the guidance issues on several of the ones that we typically have lined up for him for Christmas Eve night.  The one he is using today is the only one that doesn’t seem to be causing any issues.”

“Oh, that’s strange,” Rhianna said.  “But then, how are we going to find our way to the…the place where all the misfits are from?”  She paused and looked at her husband, leaning in close.  “I don’t know what we’re allowed to say.”

Leoden and Revan didn’t appear to hear her, but the elven maiden bent down, and plucked a few items out from under the table that everyone crowded.  “We’re going clockwork today,” she said with a smile.  The first figures she presented were ones that represented the DeAngelo family.  A quintet of small, perfectly carved wooden statuettes was placed on the table, and Michael and Rhianna seemed to realize that they had been placed on a map, right where they presently were, in Santa’s oldest workshop.

While they gazed on, Luna, the only dog tall enough to do so, stood on her hind legs and peered onto the table as well.  “Is that us?” she asked.

“Bring the table lower so we can see!” Maisie demanded.

Michael and Rhianna both grabbed hold of one of the smaller dogs and lifted them up so that they could see as Revan described the plan.

“This is indeed you, Poochie,” Revan said.  “Now, we can’t very well go and give you reindeer or a sleigh this year, and portal magic is going to be a little iffy, so we figured out something else that will be able to get you to where you need to go.”  She reached under the table again, and produced a pair of additional wooden figurines, each of them shaped like dolphins.  “One of our most prominent toymakers constructed these a few years back, and then Leoden worked some additional magic on them.”

“I’ve had them equipped with special sonar to make sure none of the people who would want to see Santa fail are successful,” Leoden explained.  “These cute clockwork critters are the reason that we were aware of Loki’s attack those few years back.  Now they’re going to be taking a much more leisurely quest alongside you.”

“Getting you there is only part of the planning, and we’ve pooled together with some of your other friends here at the North Pole to prepare you with a few other things,” Revan said.  “First, let’s get you equipped for the trip!”

The elven maiden stepped away from the map table, and into an adjoining room.  When she returned, she had a changing screen in her hands, decorated in reds and greens, befitting the upcoming holiday.

“We can’t very well have you showing up in your pajamas,” Revan said with a giggle.  “The toys need to know that you’re associated with Santa.  That ought to give you a bit more prestige to try and convince them with.”  She looked at the pups then and smiled all the brighter.  “And as for you little ones, well… You’ll see.”

Maisie and Zelda exchanged concerned glances, but Luna merely panted in excitement.

Revan tilted her head at Michael then.  “Age before beauty?”

The man’s lips parted, and he furrowed his brow in mock offense.  “I look great for forty,” he said, but he placed Maisie back on the ground, and started to make his way behind the folding screen, scowling at Revan as he went, the elf hiding her growing smile behind her hand.

As Michael made his way around the folding screen, a magical buzz resounded, and by the time he exited from the other side, a new outfit was upon him. A tan climbing coat sat upon a blue, long-sleeved woolen shirt.  Those sleeves matched the ski pants he wore that tucked into a pair of sturdy black snow boots.  Michael already had a backpack strapped on, and a bedroll rested atop that.  A tactical belt cinched around his stomach completed the outfit.

“I look like an old-timey prospector,” Michael lamented.

While Revan didn’t quite understand the context of his joke, Rhianna worked hard to stifle any laughter.  She set Zelda down on the floor and covered her mouth for a second before failing to disguise a chortle.  Then, she smiled brightly and took a step forward.  “Hey Michael,” she said.  “Yu-kon do it!”

Michael glanced down at himself and realized what he looked like, and he laughed as he shook his head.  “All I need is a red beard, and I’m set.”  His eyes sparkled and he pointed to his wife.  “This should have been your costume,” he teased.

“Oh, but you look so dashing,” Revan said before she turned toward Rhianna.  “And the one that we chose for you is quite stylish.”

“Okay, okay,” Rhianna said.  But as she passed by Michael, she whispered to him.  “I know I’m going to regret this.”

She slipped behind the folding screen, and the same sound that announced the change in Michael resounded for her.  When she emerged from behind there, she wore a teal overcoat with fur-lined sleeves and a fuzzy collar to match.  The coat swept open below her thighs, revealing a warm and heavy pair of burgundy stockings.  They tucked into a pair of shoes that curled at their tips.  Though Michael noticed them, it was the little pointed hat she wore upon her head that caught his attention the most.  It matched her coat, but it had a little red feather that pointed out from a band cinched around it.

Rhianna narrowed her eyes at the sight of her attire, and she looked at her husband with a warning glare.  “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” he asked.  “Just admiring my favorite dentist.”

Revan looked to Leoden as if to try and understand the reference, but both of elves seemed a bit confused then.

It didn’t matter, for someone else eagerly wanted to take a pass behind the folding screen.

“I love costume changes!” Maisie cried, and she hopped forward until she disappeared from view for a moment.

Michael and Rhianna waited eagerly for their little black and white pup to emerge from behind the folding screen, expecting her to be wearing some canine-friendly outfit.  But instead, they watched as she exited the other side with no more articles of clothing—only a series of pink spots upon her fur.

She glanced at the rest of her family, who wore perplexed looks.  “I don’t feel any different.  What happened?”  Maisie looked down then and realized what had happened.  “What are all these?”

Zelda stepped forward and let a gasp part her muzzle.  “Doggie pox!”

Revan chortled, and leaned over to better see the auburn-furred pup who voiced her concern.  “Silly, those haven’t been around for at least a hundred years.”

Before anyone could really take the moment to consider that comment, Leoden piped up as well.  “Though the two of you are dressed for utility, and will certainly appear as ambassadors of Santa, we figured your dogs, already a bit of a rarity in these parts, could use a different sort of change of view.  Their costume change ought to make them look a bit more akin to the residents of the island, and there’s some magic at play to keep them warm in the cold of the far reaches.”

“We’re bringing misfits to the misfits,” Michael said.

“As long as they don’t think we’re leaving them there,” Rhianna said.  “That will never happen!”  She bent low to allow Maisie to come close, and as she patted her fur, she noted that the colored circles moved with the hairs and did not appear to rub away.  Rhianna smooched the pup on the head and smiled.  “Now you’ve got pinky spots just like your sisters.”

As she doted on the dog who had already gone through the process, Michael looked at Zelda.  “What do you think, puppy dog?  Now that you know you don’t have to wear any clothing, does it sound a bit better for you?”

Zelda hummed, and began to step toward the folding screen, but she stopped and looked back at Michael.  “But what if I look funny?”

Michael bent down at his knees, wincing as they cracked.  When he was closer to their oldest pup, he gave her a loving pet on the head.  Then he tousled all the hair there until it seemed to spring out in different directions.  “You look funny now,” he said.  “Go ahead.  We’ll all look silly together.”

Zelda shook her body, setting her fur in place again.  Whether it was that motion or the inspiring words, she took her trip around the folding screen.

Before she even arrived on the other side, the family could tell what had happened, because a little red glow appeared to light up the room.  When Zelda emerged, she had her eyes crossed, looking at the red circle that appeared atop her nose.

“Do I look silly?” she asked.

“Your pinky spot just got bigger!” Rhianna said with a laugh.

She patted Luna on the rump then, and the biggest of their pups trotted forward.  “No one make fun of me okay?”  A bit more curious of the folding screen than the rest of the dogs, she took her time walking around it.

“Whatever happens, I hope they don’t try to give her a hat,” Michael said to his wife.  “Speaking of which, you better keep track of yours.  I’m surprised she hasn’t already been so deeply offended she hasn’t tried to rip it off your head!”

“She does hate hats, doesn’t she?” Rhianna said with a snicker.

A hat was not one of the things they had to worry about when Luna appeared around the other side of the folding screen.  Instead, a large, pink ruffled collar appeared around her neck.  She sat on her behind, and started to kick at it, but it did not appear to be going anywhere.

“Does it itch?” Rhianna asked.

“No,” Luna said.  “But I see it, and that bothers me!”

Revan snickered, and she waved over the two humans.  “While she’s busy coming to terms with her new collar, we should talk about some of the other preparations we’ve made for you.  Some of your allies here at the North Pole have come together to craft some things that will no doubt be imperative for your journey.”

She reached under the table once more, and produced a small wooden box that, when opened, displayed a trio of bulbous flasks.  Each of them had a different color, though the bottles were all marked by a golden band across the widest part of the vial, and another that was situated perpendicular to the first.  At the points where the bands crossed, a little mouse symbol had been etched.

“Your friend Raskagar prepared some potions for you that your eldest pup should be at least somewhat familiar with.”  She pointed to the blue potion first, just as she had all those years ago.  “This is the potion that will make things smaller.  The green potion will make things bigger.”

“And the silver one will make things fly,” Rhianna recalled.

Despite the height of the table, everyone in attendance was surprised by the sudden appearance of the eldest dog, who had somehow managed to hop there from the ground.

“I remember that one!” Zelda said, reminded of the family’s first adventure at the North Pole.

Revan chortled again, offering up an enthusiastic nod.  “That’s right.  It was your first wish, little pup!”  She turned to the humans again, closing the box and sliding it their way.  “You’ll know when to use these, I’m sure.  But that’s not all that we’re preparing you with.”

It was Leoden’s turn to gather up some items from under the table, though they were the biggest items that were produced so far.  One of the items slammed down with a tremendous thump, but the other, a red sack that looked like the one Santa carried with him, gently rested upon the table.

“Narala crafted us two very special items for you, and both have a sort of magical presence over space.”

“Oh no,” Rhianna said.  “Don’t tell us we’re going to have another breathing sack and are going to have to go underwater!”

Spotting the confused looks the elves wore, Michael nodded.  “Last year we helped Santa with a mission from his base on the moon.  We needed special breathing apparatuses.”

Revan’s shoulders sank.  “It paints me a color I’d rather not wish to be, but I must admit I’m jealous.  I’ve heard the view from there is incredible.”

“It’s something else,” Michael replied.

The elven maiden’s gaze drifted toward the ceiling until Leoden cleared his throat.

“In any case, no, you won’t have to use this for breathing anywhere,” the elf said.  “And if you’re lucky, the only time you’ll come anywhere close to the water is while you’re traveling to the island.  Remember, we’re trying to get the inhabitants away from there before the island sinks.

“These two items ought to help you,” Leoden continued.  “The sack is extradimensional.  That is, it has a vast amount of space inside that you can use to gather up the misfits, once you’ve convinced them of our plan.

As he moved the sack aside, the second item could be seen better.  A pickaxe that looked as though it was made of glass, it seemed to resonate with magic as well.

“You’ll no doubt remember the delegate of Clan Lockmoor you met several years ago,” Leoden said.  “The dwarf who you met when you performed your last diplomatic mission for Santa?”

Rhianna nodded.  “Halgrum,” she said.  “He seemed all gruff until he met our puppies.”

“And he and the other delegates we met that year helped us in our fight against Loki,” Michael recalled.

“Well, now that the dwarves and the elves and giants are on good terms, he has had plenty of time to establish mining operations in the great north.  And in one of his journeys, he was able to find a very special ore that has taken him quite a while to collect and refine.”  Leoden slid the pickaxe toward Michael.  “He calls it glissium, and with the help of Narala, the two of them were able to use some of it for this.  Go on, pick it up.”

Michael lifted the item from the table.  Despite the sound it made earlier when it landed there, Michael nearly fell backward when he realized how light it was.

“Glissium is incredibly light, and one of the most durable alloys we’ve ever discovered,” Leoden said.  “It ought not to weigh you down too much on your journeys.  But there’s some other magic to it as well.  While the sack affects space within its container, the pickaxe affects space around it.  Halgrum uses it to protect himself if any rocks begin to fall in around him in the mines, and you can do the same.”

“This is incredible,” Michael said, twisting the pickaxe over in his hand.  “Next time I see Halgrum, I’ll have to thank him for letting us borrow this.”

“Just make sure to use it well, and I’m sure he’ll be as grateful as you are,” Leoden said.

Revan clapped her hands together then, and looked to the family again, the other two dogs on the ground waiting patiently.  “Now the last bit of the puzzle.  None of this will matter if you don’t find the tracker.  They’ll be the one who can help you find your way to where the outsiders live.”

“Got it,” Rhianna said.  “Find the tracker, find the misfits.”  She tilted her head then, and all three dogs mimicked her movement.  “One thing: how are we going to find the tracker?”

Leoden leaned on the table and looked at Revan.  “That’s easy.  We have a tracker for the tracker.”

The elven maiden leaned forward and gave a playful poke to Zelda’s red nose then.  The dog sneezed in reply.

“What was that for?” the eldest pup asked.

Revan stood tall and smiled.  “Just wait for it,” she said.

After a few moments, the illusory nose on top of her own glowed a brighter red.  Zelda once again crossed her eyes as she took a glance at the magic at work.

“Every few moments, that nose will light up,” Revan said.  “But as you get closer to the tracker, it’ll flash quicker.  Once you finally meet up with it, we’ll deactivate the tracker tracker.”

Zelda shook her head.  “I’m so confused.”  But as soon as she spoke, her nose brightened again, and her eyes grew wide in surprise.

“That should be it, friends,” Leoden said.  “We can’t thank you enough for taking on this task.  It’s one of those things that Santa was going to get to after Christmas, but if there was an emergency, and the island sank faster than was expected, it could have really caused some issues.”

“The DeAngelo family, coming to save the day again,” Revan said, wearing a bright smile.  “Now, let’s head this way.”

Toward the back of the workshop, there was a large, empty space, except for a piece of wood that seemed strewn haphazardly across the floor.  It seemed peculiar in that it had a handle affixed at its center, almost like it was the front of a drawer that had fallen down, broken.

“Now, we can’t teleport you onto the outsiders’ island,” Revan said.  “It’s too big, and the snowstorm surrounding it would make it impossible to know we were sending you to the right place.”  She bent down, and grabbed the handle, and when she stood up, a pale blue portal was waiting beneath it, rising up until its peak was a few inches taller than Michael.  “This portal will take you to your transportation.  They ought to know where to go, so all you have to do is let them know you’re ready, and they’ll start you on your way.”

“We won’t let you down!” Zelda said.

“Good luck!” Leoden called out.

Before Michael and Rhianna could lead the way, their trio of pups charged forward, into the swirling vortex.

“Guess they’re all pretty used to this kind of stuff by now,” Rhianna said to her husband.

Unwilling to let the littlest of their clan venture off into the unknown alone, Michael and Rhianna strode forth, ready to play their part in another Christmas quest.

*          *          *

None of the five expected the blizzardous conditions to be quite that bad.  As the human pair exited the portal, they had to bring their arms up to block the snow from blinding them.  The dogs on the ground fared a bit better, but as Zelda, Maisie and Luna turned to regard the other two, Michael and Rhianna could see that they narrowed their eyes to help them see.

“How are we going to make it through all this mess?” Rhianna asked, her voice seeming lost to the wind that accompanied the snow.

Just as soon as she spoke though, another flash of Zelda’s nose brightened the area.  And more helpfully, it sent the snow scattering away as though a pulse of energy had surged from the pup’s muzzle.  As the snow drifted away, the family could see the horizon beyond the blizzard, and knew they had found the great sea.

“That’s the way we ought to go,” Michael said, pointing with the pickaxe.

Together, the five hurried in that direction.  The dogs didn’t seem bothered at all by the cold, but Michael and Rhianna’s ears were a bit redder in the cold chill of the area.  Michael grabbed his wife’s hand, rubbing it with his thumb to warm her up.  The two shared a smile as they ran forth, eager to reach the shore.

Though they were all sure that there was still quite a distance between where they were, and where they needed to go, the group was certain that Zelda’s nose-lights were coming on a bit quicker.

As they neared the water’s edge, they were surprised by a sudden splash.  A silver-grey figure leapt out of the sea, and it performed a flip in the air before piercing the water once more.

“Are those the dolphins?” Rhianna asked.

“Looks like them,” Michael replied.  “But I don’t think we’ll be able to go swimming with these ones.  The water here is much colder than it is in Florida!”

“I’m just happy our babies get to meet some, even if they are made of clockwork,” Rhianna said.

The family drew closer, and with the ruby light pulses that Zelda sent out scattering the snow farther, they could see that there were a pair of straps attached to the dolphins.  Those leads kept the clockwork creatures from traveling too far from the shore, it seemed.

“I hope they weren’t too bored waiting for us,” Rhianna mused.

As though they heard her voice, the creatures turned, and splashed out of the water, coming to a partial rest on the icy surface that the DeAngelo family found themselves on.  They made cute mechanical clicks that sounded enough like dolphin chatter to have them presenting as commendable facsimiles.

“If Leoden and Revan hadn’t told us these were clockwork, I would have never thought they were,” Michael said.  He leaned down, and rubbed the nearest dolphin’s head, and the creature nuzzled against that touch.  But as Rhianna drew closer, it opted to roll to its side and wave with one of its fins.  Rhianna grabbed that fin and gave it a courteous shake in greeting.

The other dolphin stretched a little farther, bumping its nose against Luna’s.  The biggest of the dogs crouched down into a play position, and when her dolphin friend whistled, Luna laughed and spun in a quick circle.

“As much as we want to play, I think we need your help,” Michael said.  “We have to get to the Island of the Outsiders and find the tracker.”  Zelda’s nose flashed, and Michael pointed to her.  “You have to help us find what that connects to.”

The dolphins seemed to react to that request, turning around to face the vastness of the great sea.  Michael and Rhianna looked at each other in curiosity, but they didn’t have to think for long about what was transpiring.  The dolphins rushed forward, and a cacophonous crack ripped through the air.  All five of the family members lost their balance, and wobbled a bit, but everyone stayed upright.  Michael grabbed hold of his wife, steadying her.

“It’s not a rollercoaster, it’s not a rollercoaster,” she affirmed.

“They should have given us some ginger candies for our rickety ginger,” her husband teased.

Together, they realized that the dolphins had ripped a slab of ice away from the rest of the shore.  They tugged together, pulling the family farther across the great sea.  The snow only seemed to get stronger, the blizzard encroaching upon them even with the strength of Zelda’s powers sending them scattering.

As they moved along, Maisie inched toward the edge of their slab of ice, sniffing at the water.  One of the dolphins breached and let a spout of water take to the sky.

“Yipe!” Maisie cried as she skittered backward.

Michael fell to a knee beside his worried pup, petting behind her ears to help calm her down.  But as he looked at his wife, he couldn’t hide a smile.

“I don’t think they needed to do that.  They don’t breathe after all.”

Rhianna nodded.  “Just as mischievous as the real thing, it seems.”

Michael leaned down, and smooched their dog on the head, and she sat down beside him.  She sighed then once she found a bit of calm.

The husband and wife did not miss that sound, and they sat down on opposite sides of her then.

“Is everything okay?” Michael asked.

Maisie ignored the question for a moment and sniffed at the air again.

“What is it?” Rhianna asked.

Their black and white dog alternated glances between the two of them.  She merely stared for a moment, as though something had stolen her voice away.  But even the wind seemed to die down around them then, and in the stillness and the quiet, she allowed herself to be heard.

“It smells like something she would have liked.”

It took no sleuthing to understand who she was talking about.  For the first time since they began journeying to the North Pole, one less arrived, rather than one more.

Michael and Rhianna squished in a little closer, making sure that Maisie felt warmth beyond what her Christmas spots afforded her.

“We thought maybe you had forgotten, and didn’t want to be reminded,” Michael said.

The dog bowed her head a little bit.  “I haven’t forgotten.  Every now and then I still think I feel a little weight on top of the blanket when I’m sleeping under it.”

Luna, always aware whenever anyone was a bit sad, came over and nuzzled against Maisie, pushing a little more than she needed to.  If Maisie hadn’t been stabilized between Michael and Rhianna, she would have stumbled backward for sure.  Luna lay down in front of Maisie then, allowing her older sister to rest her head on the bigger dog’s back.

“I go upstairs every now and then thinking I’ll see her,” Luna said.  “I think I know that I won’t, but every now and then I ask myself, ‘what if?’”

By that point, Michael and Rhianna had tears in their eyes, but couldn’t bring themselves to speak, the emotion raw in their throats.

Zelda came up around Luna then and stood on her hind legs to stand against Rhianna.  The DeAngelo matriarch leaned forward and kissed Zelda on the head, before scooping her up to allow her to find a comfy spot in her lap.

“I miss our adventures,” Zelda said, the excitement dimmed in her voice, though just as much love was always there in what she said.

“We miss her too,” Rhianna said, doing her best to rein in her emotions before her voice cracked too much.

Michael sniffed, unable to compose himself enough to say any words for a time.  Tears ran down his cheeks, frozen in place by the cold before they could fall.

“Do you remember when she would hide behind the plant in the living room, and think she was invisible?” he finally asked.

Rhianna snickered a little at the memory.  “Or when she would come downstairs whenever you doggies were howling to join in, even if it was in her own way?”

“I remember when she would sit on the stairs,” Zelda said.  “She would judge these two dummies yapping in the window.”

Michael laughed.  “I think she was judging all three of you,” he said.

“Not uh!” Zelda argued.

“But she loved you all in her own ways,” Rhianna said.  “Whether it was cuddling up on you and pretending she didn’t know you were under a blanket, or giving you space when you needed it—”

“Tolerating you when you were being way too forward and annoying,” Michael teased as he tousled the fur on Luna’s head.  He sighed then, remembering some of the other things he missed.  “I think that she left a little bit of herself here with us,” he remarked.  “She was always my little writing buddy, and for a while, Maisie, I think you knew that I needed one.  Maybe she found a way to tell you that.”

“And Zelda,” Rhianna said, “you have been much more snuggly yourself.  She always used to snuggle on my chest when I would look at my phone, and now you’re the one who does that.”

“What do I do?” Luna asked.  “What is it that she told me to start doing?”

Rhianna laughed again.  “I think she wanted you to stay absolutely as you are.  You kept her young, and on her toes, just the way you do for us.”

“Speak for yourself,” Michael said.  “I don’t know if we’re going to be able to stand up from this position when we arrive.  Between the cold and my old knees…”  His words trailed off then, for he realized that Zelda’s nose seemed to flash much quicker than it had before they stepped onto the ice floe.  As he gazed into the distance, he realized that he could see a great frozen expanse before him.  “It can’t be.”  His knees did, in fact, crack as he rose to his feet.  “We’ve already arrived.”

He held his hand out to his wife, and he helped her climb to her feet as well.

The dolphins seemed to slow once the family realized they had reached the land of the outsiders.  The momentum carried them across the water until they reached the icy shore.  With a resounding thud, their improvised vehicle collided there, sending the two humans off their balance, though even the dogs wobbled a bit.

The smaller members of the DeAngelo family hurried off the ice floe, but Michael was slower to move, assisting his wife as she contended with the rocking water beneath them.

“Thank you for your help,” Rhianna said.

“Of course,” Michael replied.

“I was talking to the dolphins,” she said with a laugh.  She waved farewell to them when she finally made it to solid ground.

Another pair of mechanical chirps and whistles rang out.  With their task completed, the clockwork dolphins seemed to take their time playing with one another.

The trio of pups had already advanced farther onto the island, with only Zelda’s red beacon helping the two humans spot them in the whipping snow.

“Slow down, you three,” Rhianna called out.  “Remember, we’ve only got the two legs.”

The pair hurried after the rest of their family, and they realized the terrain quickly changed from flat fields of ice to tremendous mountains that rose up.  A labyrinth of snow and stone was before them, the pale maze no doubt leading toward wherever the outsiders holed up.  But first, they knew that they had to find the tracker.

Zelda’s nose continued to glow, and it pulsed brighter and quicker as they made their way through the area.  When it seemed to flash so fast that it appeared as one perpetual glow, Michael urged them to stop.

“We’ve got to be close.  The tracker has to be here.”  He looked about the area, noting that they were in a small clearing in the area, with rocky outcroppings all around them.  “There might have been a lot of snowfall here,” he considered.

“It buried the tracker,” Rhianna realized.  “All right, everyone keep your eyes peeled.  It has to be around here somewhere.”

The five of them scoured the area, some kicking away snowdrifts, while others sniffed at the ground.  Finally, Zelda’s nose glowed brighter than ever before, and she looked down through the layers of ice, and spotted something there.

“Hey!” she cried out.

Luna, not one to miss out on something interesting, was there a moment later.  She used her big paws to dig at the crunchy ice there, managing to push some of it away.

“Careful,” Michael said as he arrived there.  “We don’t want this ice to split your nails or scratch your toepads.”  He stood over the area and could see—with help from Zelda’s nose—that something was indeed under the ice there.  “I’ve already got a use for Halgrum and Narala’s gift, it seems,” he said, plucking the pickaxe from his belt.

The glissium head of the tool shimmered amidst all the ice and snow, and it radiated the light from Zelda’s nose as well.

“This really is a weightless thing,” Michael mused.  “I hope I don’t break it.”

As soon as the dogs stepped back, he slammed the pickaxe into the ground, surprised by how easily it cleaved the ice there.  Pulling the chunks of ice away was a bit more difficult, but as he cleared the way, Luna pushed the remnants out of the way.  Rhianna was there a moment later, moving things farther with her foot.

Before long, Michael was able to cleave a square around the tracker and start to pull out the excess ice and even stone that had trapped it there.  It did not take long for him to spot the metallic clockwork, and at once, it reminded him of the dolphins.  The tracker looked crumpled though, compressed by the weight of the ice.  Perhaps it had been caught off guard by an avalanche of sorts, he mused.

“Just a little bit more, I think,” he said.

Once he noticed how close they were to liberating the tracker, he pushed himself that much harder, hammering into the ice with the pickaxe and ripping the deep gouges into the area.

“Careful now,” Rhianna cautioned.  “You remember what happened the last time you were to enthusiastic about moving snow about.”

Michael nodded and checked his posture.  “You’re right.  This pickaxe is lighter than our shovels back home though.  Besides, this poor thing has been stuck in the ice for far too long.  I just need to—” He winced as he cut his words short, and handed the pickaxe to his wife, bracing himself against the closest icy slope behind him.

“I told you so,” Rhianna said.

She took up the cause then, and in just a few minutes longer, she was able to dig large trenches around the tracker.  As they chipped away at the ice, she was able to see much better when it came into view.  Zelda peeked into the hole, and with one more pulse of light, the glow on her nose faded.  They had found their objective and didn’t need to know where it was any longer.

“Does your back feel okay enough yet to help me pull this out of here?” Rhianna asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Michael replied.

Rhianna couldn’t tell if he had really recovered well enough to resume working, or if he was just carrying on as if he had.  She shifted to her side, allowing him to step down into the hole they had carved.

He took the pickaxe once more, and he drove it into place alongside one of the trenches, turning it to its side to dislodge the large chunk of ice.  Then, with one mighty heave, he was able to lift it up.  The magic of the pickaxe must have helped, because they were left with what looked like a huge cube of ice roughly as broad as Michael’s shoulders.

Michael was careful to keep the pickaxe beneath the cube, even as he shifted it onto flatter ground.

“Watch out, pups,” he warned.

As he slid the pickaxe away, the cube thumped down, sliding a bit on the ice beneath it.  Michael helped his wife climb out of the shallow pit, and then used the pickaxe to steady a hold for himself as he climbed out after her.

“All right,” Rhianna said.  “Are we ready to finally get this tracker out of here and get on our way?”

The dogs wagged their tails, sniffing at the cube and trying to get a good idea of what was inside it.  But the ice was too uneven, and they could not get a glimpse at the true manner of what existed there.

Michael took hold of the pickaxe once more, and grabbed hold of the ice, turning it over once, to rest on another side.

That was all they needed to see clearly what was trapped inside.  A little silver amalgamation of plates and gears—shaped like a feline—stared back at them with unblinking eyes, looking eager to be freed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Michael said.

*          *          *

Even with the layers of ice chipped away from the tracker, it didn’t seem to be any more aware or alert.  But the DeAngelo family had long before noticed the winding key affixed to the clockwork cat’s head and knew that would likely have its gears spinning to life.

“Just a bit more,” Michael said, carefully carving away at the ice with his pickaxe.

When he had finally broken apart all of the icy shell encasing the clockwork cat, it stood still in the snow, looking more like a statuette than an artificial living creature.

But Rhianna’s eyes remained drawn to the winding key.

“I think if we turn that, our tracker will come to life,” she remarked.  “Does anyone have any misgivings about me twisting that?”

When no one said anything, she stepped forward, and dropped to a knee beside the tracker.  The winding key revolved with a discordant clicking, and Rhianna wondered if it was because of the way the weather had taken hold of the creature, or whether it was just the way it had been crafted.

Once the winding key protested any further turns, Rhianna stood up and stepped back, waiting to see if life would begin anew.

For a time, it seemed as though nothing would happen.  But then the family noticed tiny motions where the cat’s head met its body.  It looked as though it was about to shake its head, but then the eyes lit up gold, and the head turned.

And it kept turning.

“Ah!” Rhianna said, stumbling back another step.

Reacting to her fear, the dogs all ran to hide behind her then.

As the cat’s head completed its turn, it looked to the family, alternating glances between the shivering quartet, and the man with the pickaxe.

“Did you rescue me?” the critter asked, a voice resonating from within the chassis of the clockwork creature.  “The last thing I remember is being swallowed up by the ice.  Without being able to turn my key, I was left to feel the final turns of my gears, with each tick coming slower and slower.”

“Well, that’s glum,” Michael said.  “Yes, we’re the ones who pulled you out of all the ice.  We’re some of Santa’s ambassadors and were sent here to find you.”

“Oh,” the cat’s tinny voice came back.  “So Leoden didn’t forget about me.  I had worried so, especially when I could not free myself from my cold, dark tomb.”

“Okay, that’s enough of that talk,” Michael protested.  “You’re safe and sound now, and we’re not going to let anything hurt you.  But we need you to help us reach where the outsiders live.”

“Ah, yes,” the cat responded.  “The island will submerge beneath the water in…” Its words trailed off, and once again the head began to spin far beyond what a normal creature’s neck would allow.  “…Unknown timeframe,” it finished.  “It is best that we hurry to meet the king of the island’s inhabitants.”  The cat took a single step before alternating looks at the various members of the family.  Once it had taken account of the people who surrounded it, it sat on its rump.  “Designations?”

“What?” Rhianna asked.

“Designations?” it spoke again.

“Designations?” Michael repeated back at it.  “You mean our names?”

“Precisely.”

“We’re the DeAngelo family,” Rhianna responded.  “I’m Rhianna, he’s Michael, and these are our dogs, Zelda, Maisie and Luna,” she said, pointing to each person in turn.

Maisie was the brave one of the bunch then, the dog peeking out from behind Rhianna’s legs.  “Hi,” she ventured.

“Greetings!” the cat said, standing up and taking another step toward the group.  “My designation is Taub—Tracking and Utility Bot.  It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Michael picked up his pickaxe, and slid it into his belt, resting it on his hip.  “Okay, Taub.  What way do we need to go to find the outsiders?”

The clockwork cat turned to him with erratic movements, his metal joints still not firmly in place after his time in the ice block.  “Before I was trapped, and ran out of energy, I was heading this way,” he said, the cat lifting one of his metal paws to point between two sharp, rocky inclines.  “If we proceed along that way, we should reach the crystal palace before long.”

“Crystal palace?” Rhianna echoed.  “Maybe we’re the outsiders.”

“Come on then,” Taub said, apparently unable—or unwilling—to make small talk or entertain that sentiment.  “We must hurry to meet Dawnspike.”

Michael turned to his wife and the pups.  “Well, that doesn’t sound like the most welcoming of names.”

“Who is Dawnspike?” Zelda asked.

Taub had already begun skittering forward, forcing the rest of the family to hurry after him.  Though his movements were slowed somewhat by the damage to his parts, he was still quicker than they first expected.  “Person with designation Dawnspike is king of the outsiders.”

“Another dragon?” Rhianna wondered aloud.

“Ooh, we make friends with dragons,” Luna shouted as she ran.

Together, the group hurried through the icy passes, the clockwork cat seeming to know every direction to go.  No one had any time to stop and ponder whether it truly did have an idea of Dawnspike’s palace, but as they made one more turn, they could see the snow part, the blizzard subsiding in that area.

In the distance, they could see massive spires of dark, shimmering ice.  Some of them had been carved into parapets, the towers clearly displaying where the outsiders were bound to be.

“That’s not just a palace,” Rhianna said.  “That’s a whole castle.”

“How is it that you knew it was here, Taub?” Michael wondered.

The clockwork cat turned around, giving the group a bit of a respite from their constant running to keep up with the tracker.  The trio of dogs panted, and Zelda even plopped down in the snow to catch her breath.

“One of Santa’s reindeer, the most fam…ous…” the cat began.  But the family watched as the lights dimmed, and they wondered if perhaps the winding key had already stopped spinning the gears in the critter’s head and body.

Suddenly though, another voice seemed to rattle through the tracker’s body.

“DeAngelo family, can you hear me?”

“That’s Leoden,” Zelda said, popping up from her spot.

“Ah, there you are,” the elf’s voice came through again.  “We received a response after you reactivated the tracker.  You’re obviously with it now, otherwise we wouldn’t be talking.”

“We are, Leoden,” Rhianna said.  “And we’ve found our way to the palace.  It sounds like this monstrous castle is where the king of the outsiders, Dawnspike lives.”

“What can you tell us about him, Leoden?”

“Well, I only know what I’ve heard from some of the toymakers.  He’s a fearsome creature, and he works very hard to protect the outsiders.  I imagine you’ll be dealing with him directly.”

“Leoden?” Maisie piped up then, after catching her breath.

“Yes?” the disembodied voice replied.  “Is that Maisie?”

She nodded, the nuance of trying to get that across to him with just sound lost to her.  But she did continue on.  “Is Taub going to be okay?”

“Oh, yes,” the elf said.  “I can’t have my voice come through while Taub is fully active, so I sort of steal the signal to check in with you.”

“Well, we’re hoping to have good news for you very soon,” Rhianna said.  “The next time we talk to you, it will be with all the outsiders coming back to the North Pole.”

“We look forward to it,” Leoden said.  “Oh, and before I go, Revan wanted me to remind you about the potions.  They ought to come in handy if you run into any trouble.  Speak with you soon!”

Just as soon as he finished talking, the lights behind the tracker’s eyes lit up again.  “…reindeer of all,” Taub continued speaking.  But he hesitated a bit, realizing that he had missed parts of a conversation.  He let his previous thought dissipate and tilted his head a quarter turn—not quite as frightening as it had been before, but just enough to demonstrate curiosity.  “Did Master Leoden take hold of me?”

“He did,” Michael said.  “We thought you powered down for a moment there.”

The little clockwork cat’s eyes widened just a bit then, as memories of being trapped in the ice seemed to overtake him.  “That reminds me,” he said.  He sat on his hind legs and brought his front paws over his head.  Providing new energy for himself, Taub winded the turning key, a series of satisfying clicks resonating into the cold air upon the island.  “There we go,” the cat said.

At that, he hurried along, aimed once again toward the towering castle in the distance.

While the two smaller dogs and the pair of humans lagged behind as they had before, Luna more than kept pace with the little cat.

“I always need to be in front!” the big dog explained.

“Do you know where we are going?” Taub asked.

Luna slowed, a look of curiosity finding its way to her face.  She kept pace with the rest of her family then instead, shouting, “I only sometimes need to be in front!”

As they kept up their progress, the distant castle seemed to grow into the foreground.  Drawing near, the family realized it towered even higher up than it looked upon the horizon.

“Are we even going to make it home before Christmas?” Rhianna wondered.

A loud sound reported just in front of them, like a window shattering.  The family watched as Taub skittered backward, and shards of ice slid across the surface upon which they walked.

Michael and Rhianna looked around, realizing that they had entered a narrow valley, with sheer cliffs of ice along their sides.  Noting the sudden tension in the air, Luna let a low growl rumble.  Though the bigger dog allowed her apprehension to be known, it was the little black and white dog—with temporary pink spots, of course—who alerted the family to the stranger who appeared in the distance.

“Look!” she cried.  “Look!  Up there!  I’m doing my job and letting you all know there’s something important up there!”

A towering figure appeared above the cliffs, wearing a suit of dazzling silver mail.  They leapt over the side, cleaving their sword into the ice to slow their descent.  When they landed, a nicker seemed to resonate from the area.  The family and Taub noticed another figure upon the opposite cliff then, that one wearing resplendent colors, and seeming to sit upon a mount that remained yet hidden behind the icy ramparts.

The first figure that had landed upon the path before them strode forward, their features hidden behind their immense helmet.  The dogs and the humans seemed frozen where they stood, for as the stranger drew closer, they could see that they were at least two heads taller than Michael.

“That shot was no miss,” a voice behind the helmet said.  “That was a warning.  If you are here to cause trouble, you should turn back to where you came.”

Michael looked to Rhianna, who had also determined that the voice seemed to belong to a woman.

Taub spoke for the visitors then, taking a step forward with a complete lack of fear.

“I am here with the ambassadors of Santa Claus,” the clockwork cat spoke.  “We are here to see Dawnspike, leader of the outsiders.”

The knight stood taller, and broadened her stance as well, as if to block further passage toward the castle.  “Your Santa has never had words for us before.  Why does he wish to confer with us now?”

Rhianna took a step forward then, blowing out an anxious breath.  “We were told that there was a risk of this island falling into the sea.  Some of Santa’s helpers wanted to ensure that you had proper warning, so that nothing bad happened to any of you.”

“Santa’s helpers are the ones that discarded us,” the knight said.  “Why should we trust anything that they have to say now?”

Michael nodded, realizing that there was some truth in what the outsider said, and that there was a reason to be disappointed.  “Whoever it was who decided that you weren’t worthy, they don’t speak for all of the people that Santa knows.  No one people are monolithic, and the people who wanted us to help you wouldn’t have sent us here for nefarious purposes.  We’re friends with them, and we know they’re good people.”

Rhianna looked to her husband, impressed with his hold on diplomacy.  She gave an enthusiastic nod, too.  “Whoever it was who let you down, they’ll no doubt have to reckon with their foolishness, and whatever punishment is placed upon them.  But we’ll do everything in our power to make sure that you are given a chance to make a fresh start elsewhere.”

The knight stood sentinel for a time, as if considering the spoken words.  Then, they slowly reached up to their visor, and flipped it up.

From their previous vantage point, the DeAngelo family did not realize that the knight’s helmet was misshapen and elongated.  None were expecting a bipedal equine behind the suit of armor.

Zelda gasped, and her eyes grew wide with excitement.  “Horse!” she cried.

The knight, seeming momentarily offended, pointed her sword.  “Dog!” she retorted.

The oldest DeAngelo pup gasped again, and she turned to look at Michael and Rhianna.  “She knows me!”

Realizing soon after that the canine meant no offense, the knight relaxed a bit.  “I believe that there is truth in your words.  Or at least, you believe the truth to be what you say.  I will take you to the castle, and you will have your audience with Dawnspike.  But I cannot promise that you that anyone will see reason as I have, or that you will be trusted.”

She turned then to the figure on the other icy rampart.  “Jouster!” she cried.  “Head back to the castle and let them know that we have guests!”

Those guests watched as the other guard raced off toward the west, seeming a bit unsteady in the saddle of whatever creature they rode atop.

The knight spun about and waved the group on.

That time, Taub fell a bit behind, and as the DeAngelo family moved along, he sat on his back legs again, bringing up his paws to turn the winding key once more.  Rhianna was there a moment later, helping him to twist things.  A happy little sigh emanated from inside his metal chassis, followed by the subtle hum of his version of a purr.

Together, the pair of them hurried up, cutting the distance between them and the rest of their group.

It did not seem to take terribly long to arrive beneath the towering castle.  There was no door, just a massive, yawning maw, as though the mountain had once been some terrible creature that had given way to snow and ice.  There were some other knights and soldiers standing watch there, though none seemed so tall as the horse that brought them in.

Rhianna gave Michael a little tap on his shoulder with the back of her hand and pointed off to the side when they arrived.  The figure that charged across the icy rampart was there and seemed every part the misfit.  A jester with vibrant attire, he sat upon an ostrich with fluffy plumage.  He didn’t look as though he could sit comfortably in the saddle though, as every few moments he seemed to slide to the side before he righted himself.

“I get it,” Michael said.  “Jouster.”

Rhianna flashed a smile, but it grew all the brighter when she realized who led them toward the mighty and mysterious Dawnspike.  She pointed again, that time to the person who led them forth.  “Knightmare,” she whispered.

The bipedal horse spun about, arching an eyebrow.  “How did you know my name?”

Rhianna did her best to hold back a gasp, but she couldn’t offer up any sort of explanation.  She merely held out her hands and shrugged.

“Hmm,” the knight mused.  “Perhaps my reputation precedes me.”  She continued leading the group through the corridors beneath the castle.

Michael noticed that they never seemed to be heading up any higher in the so-called palace.  “Is she bringing us right to the dungeon?” he muttered.  But he soon realized that the crude stone path gave way to impeccably hewn floors that looked almost as if they were made from the same material as his magical pickaxe.

Before long, the corridor opened into a great hall, with tall stone pillars stretching toward a high ceiling.  All around, there were festive sights, with decorated Christmas trees surrounded by piles of wrapped gifts.

“It must remind them of happier times,” Rhianna considered.

They soon realized that they were not alone in the hall.  Other outsiders appeared to gather, and at once, the family could see why they might have been ostracized by the crafters at the workshop.  A large box sat off to the side, and a towering naga leaned out of it, its lower body seeming to have a springlike armature inside.  On the opposite side of the area, a rocking horse had a sharp unicorn’s horn jutting out between tufts of pink hair.  And just beside it, a burly green orc sat with its back tilted forward, just enough for them to realize he was a large doll, before they noticed the intricate stitching he had.

As Knightmare led them forward, they spotted the series of steps that led to an immense granite throne.  A mighty creature sat upon it and stared down at the new arrivals with some measure of concern.  With the body of a lion—including its back paws—but the head and front talons of a great eagle, it was clear that Dawnspike was a griffin.  There was something that made the leader of the outsiders appeal to them, however.  As Michael and Rhianna looked upon him in all his glory, they noticed that he had wings that were much too small to lift him into the air.  He would never be able to fly in his current state.  Still, he wore a golden crown upon his head, and no one seemed poised to challenge him.  Among his people, he seemed loved and revered.

“Who have we here, Knightmare?”

The horse took a deep bow before speaking.  “They are representatives from the North Pole, my liege.  These are diplomats who say they’ve come to offer us warning that the island is at risk of sinking.”

Dawnspike lowered his head, meeting the visitors with a fierce gaze.  “And under whose authority do you come here?  And who has the knowledge and the foresight to predict such an ominous fate for our home?”

Michael took a step forward then, offering a bow of his own.  “Greetings, Your Eminence,” he said.  “Though we have learned that there is some strife between your people and those who call Santa a friend, I am compelled to be honest, and let you know that it was a duo of his helpers who have tasked us with this quest.  They want nothing more than for you and the rest of your kingdom’s inhabitants to be safe, and to be ready should anything happen, which might have otherwise been unexpected.”

Dawnspike sneered and leaned upon one arm of the throne a little more forcefully.  “Flowery words mean nothing in this hall, especially by ones who have yet to send words our way, kind or otherwise.  I do not know you, and despite his influence on the things we hold dear, we have not had words shared with Santa either.”

A deep sigh shook the mighty griffin then.  “But I do note that warning as this would seem unlikely if there were ulterior motives.  And I see that you travel with those who, like us, are…peculiar.”

Maisie looked up, alternating glances between Michael and Rhianna.  “Why did he say it like that?” she wondered.

“Check your spots,” Rhianna whispered.

The king of the misfits cleared his throat then.  “Very well, it is decided.  Knightmare, I appreciate your discretion in bringing these so-called ambassadors here.  Please return to the pass and ensure that this was not all some distraction.

“As for the rest of you, I have chosen to entertain the warning you have given us here, but I am still suspicious of it.  If you would champion this cause, perhaps you would rise up and hear the call of a series of challenges while you are here.”

“Challenges?” Rhianna asked.  “What sort of challenges?”

“They shall be a judgment of your character,” Dawnspike said.  “Tests of valor and of cleverness will be presented to you, and if you are successful in completing them, I will hold your claims in much higher regard.”

Taub stepped forward, and proudly spoke.  “We accept your terms, Lord Dawnspike.”

Michael and Rhianna exchanged worried glances but did not work to retract the statement.  Before they could confer with one another, other members of Dawnspike’s court shouted out.

“Throw them in the pit, and see if they can climb out,” the orc doll cried.

“Fill ‘em full uh rocks and lessee if they can still swim,” the naga in a box demanded.

“I don’t have any ideas, but I still want to seem like I’m contributing!” the rocking unicorn yelled.

The mighty griffin slammed down one of his taloned claws, gripping the throne between them.  “Dul, William, and Papier,” he said, addressing each of the toys in the order with which they spoke.  “I appreciate your desire to see the trials through, but it is my job as the ruler of this land to set the tasks.”  He hummed to himself then, considering what he saw before him.  “If I am to trust you at your word, than I have to see if you have empowered, rather than diminished the outsiders you travel with.  To you other three toys, do you feel ready to prove that this pair you travel with has served you well?”

“Are we the toys?” Luna wondered, whispering to her big sister.

“Yes,” Zelda replied.

“Then it shall be done,” Dawnspike said, having heard the little pup answer in the affirmative.

“What?” Zelda asked.  “I didn’t mean—”

“What are our challenges?” Maisie asked, stepping forth.  “Is it an eating challenge?  I’m good at those.”

Luna’s eyes grew wide.  “I’m even better at them,” she insisted.  “Sometimes I’m so hungry, I could eat Maisie!”

The griffin king of the outcasts stepped down from his throne, and onto the broad steps leading from it.  “I will present a series of three challenges, and one of you will volunteer to be the champion of the task.  None of you may attempt more than one challenge.”

Michael and Rhianna exchanged nervous glances, but even then, Rhianna felt a sudden rush of optimism.  She lifted her enchanted Santa sack, remembering that they had the tools to upend any challenge that came their way.

Putting on a brave face, she took a step forward.  “What is the first challenge?”

Dawnspike wore a mischievous smile then.  “Follow me,” he said.

*          *          *

The DeAngelo family arrived at what seemed to be the center of the mountain.  A wide-open cavity stretched out high above them, for what seemed like a mile.

Dawnspike took a quick glance above, but with a mischievous smirk, he turned back to those in attendance.

“This is the location of your first trial,” the griffin king said.  “It is called Silver Moon Rising.”  He waved on at those in attendance, with one of his subjects approaching with a small round discus in hand.

Dul, the stitched-together orc puppet, shambled forth for a moment until he stood at the ready before his king.  He spun the discus atop his finger with talent belying his appearance as a living doll.

“Your task is simple,” Dawnspike continued.  “Once my…advisor here throws the silver moon, it is up to your champion to catch it before it hits the ground.”

Michael and Rhianna knew at once who they would recommend for such a task, but they never had the chance to ask her.  Zelda was already unable to rein in her excitement, and she stepped forward and stood on her hind legs, eager for the chance to play.

“I love frisbee!” the oldest pup cried.

Dul seemed offended then, the orc gnashing his teeth together until his prominent fangs protruded a bit more.  “This is not a frisbee, this is a mighty discus.  It’s not a…” His words trailed off as he considered that it was indeed a toy.  “This is the Silver Moon!” he cried.

“You can call it whatever you want, just throw the frisbee!” Zelda excitedly said, her tail wagging back and forth so much that the rest of her family behind her could feel a breeze being created.

“This is your champion?” Dawnspike asked.

Rhianna nodded and clasped her hands together.  “There’s no one else here who would be as eager to take on this task as Zelda.”

“Then may your red nose guide you,” the griffin king declared.  “Throw the Silver Moon, Dul.”

The orc puppet did as tasked, and he spun about in a few awkward circles, until he tossed the silver frisbee into the air.

Zelda ran forth, trying to gauge where the disc would go once it began to fall.  But a strange thing happened.  The Silver Moon hung there in the air, its trajectory not taking it back down.

“Hey!” Zelda cried.  “Come down here.”

Michael looked at his wife with his eyebrow arched.  “Even that toy is a misfit.  It’s a frisbee that won’t come back.”

An impish chuckle erupted from the great griffin king, for he knew that the task would not be quite so simple.  “What’s the matter?” he asked.  “Can’t quite reach it?”

Zelda had become impatient at that point, and she jumped as high as she could, but hovering in the air as it did, the discus remained far out of reach.

“It seems your friends behind you have not empowered you as much as I had hoped,” Dawnspike bellowed.

Zelda stopped attempting to pursue the frisbee for a moment, fixated on that comment.  “They’re not friends,” she said, passing a glance back to Michael, Rhianna, Maisie, and Luna.  “They’re family!”

Dawnspike’s eyes flashed for just a fraction of a second, but in doing so, the mischievous look he wore also faded somewhat.  He stood a little taller then, however, and lifted his head.  “You have been given your task, and we will be here until you either succeed, or you give up.  Perhaps a little outward thinking might help you reach the Silver Moon.”

“Well, perhaps an understanding of the rules might help,” Rhianna dared to ask then.  Though the griffin sent a fierce gaze her way, she seemed unfazed.  “You said that Zelda needs to reach the fris—the Silver Moon…but you didn’t say how.”

“My lady,” Dawnspike said in a sort of mocking way.  “She can do whatever she likes.  Unless she sprouts wings, I don’t see you finding any success here.”

“Funny you should say that,” Rhianna said.  She reached into her sack of holding, and a moment later produced the vial that Raskagar prepared for them which had silver contents inside.  “Zelda,” she called out, waving over the old pup.  As she drew close, Rhianna displayed the vial, shaking it just a bit.  “Do you remember your first wish?  The one that you made the first time we came to Tellest and the North Pole?”

Zelda’s eyes grew wide with excitement.  “I wanted to fly!”

“That’s right,” Rhianna said.  “And now, you get your chance to do it again.”  She poured out the contents of the vial on the ground, and Zelda eagerly lapped it up.

When the pup was done, and she turned around, she could see that Dawnspike was looking over in that direction, his curiosity piqued.  Zelda bent low, getting herself into a play position.  And then, with one more giant leap, she took to the air.

Dawnspike’s beak parted, and he could hear the other subjects who had joined him in the heart of the mountain gasp and applaud at the sight of the airborne dog.  Still, he knew that the task would continue to carry some complexities.  His eyes narrowed as Zelda drew nearer to the disc.

She opened her mouth to grab hold of the Silver Moon, but just as she drew near, it darted away.  With no friction in the air, she paddled her legs as though she was trying to swim, slowly coming to a stop.  She turned around, noticing that the discus was on the other side of the wide expanse.

“What?” she said.  “Come here, you!”

Zelda attempted again to make her way toward the frisbee, but as before, it slid out of the way as she drew near.  On and on it went, and though she continued to miss it time after time, Zelda seemed just as eager, and happy with the chase.

The toy, on the other hand, seemed to be slowing every time it needed to dart out of the way.

“She’s tuckering it out,” Rhianna whispered to her husband.

She was not the only one who appeared to notice that.  Dawnspike slammed his taloned hand down on the ground, grunting as he did so.

“I grow tired of this,” he said.

Michael reached over and squeezed his wife’s shoulder.  “There was one other rule,” he reminded her.

Rhianna couldn’t remember that rule, but Michael was already in motion, running forward.  The Silver Moon finally began its descent, and that had Rhianna’s mind racing toward the memory.

“It can’t touch the ground,” she whispered.

Though Zelda had exhausted the discus toy, it still outpaced her, and she would never reach it in time before it struck the floor.

But Michael was there, glissium pickaxe in hand.  He raised it high, and the antigravity powers that Leoden had told the family about took hold.  As the discus dropped, it bounced off of what seemed like an invisible rope, flinging it back into the air.

Zelda gasped with a happy little noise, and she lunged forward, clasping the frisbee between her teeth.

Dawnspike’s jaw dropped again, and that time he did nothing to disguise his look of shock.  Many of his subjects were stunned into silence as well, but it sounded as though half of the rest were excited by the showing, and they burst into cheer and applause.

Zelda slowly floated back to the ground, where she was joined by her two sisters, the other dogs happily wagging their tails, proud of what their older sibling was able to accomplish.

“I would not celebrate just yet,” the mighty griffin bellowed.  “There are still two more tasks to conquer.  That outcast is old—surely, she would have learned something in all her years.”

“Hey!” Zelda argued.  “I’m dumb when I want to be!”

Dawnspike narrowed his eyes then.  “We’ll see if your younger two toys have learned quite as much as we continue the trials.”

*          *          *

Given the towering cavity within the mountain that they had just left, the visitors found themselves in a spot that was much cozier.  Dawnspike led them along, and it almost seemed as though he wouldn’t fit within the narrow passageways in the icy castle.  Strangely, ice gave way to snow, an impossibility that far inside the palace.

The DeAngelo family realized that all the white had been artificially created, because they had found their way to a place in the castle that served as an entire city.  Rows and rows of gingerbread houses were present, and the inhabitants seemed to live and move, preparing for Christmas in various ways.

“These aren’t toys,” Michael mused.

“No, but they toys must have some Christmas magic in them,” Rhianna said.  “We saw what the throne room looked like—all those lit-up Christmas trees and presents strewn everywhere.  Maybe it makes them feel like home, in a way.”

Michael nodded.  “And if they have Christmas magic, maybe they brought these gingerbread people to life.”

“Could be,” Rhianna replied.

Dawnspike led them to the center of the room, and cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the gingerbread villagers.  The DeAngelo family, Taub, and the rest of the toy procession behind them stopped as well.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the griffin king spoke.  “Though news often travels quickly in our sanctuary, some information may not have reached you yet.  We have guests from the North Pole here with us today—self-professed ambassadors of Santa Claus.  They come with a warning about the state of our island, and though I have taken it with all seriousness, I also believe them with caution.

“However,” Dawnspike continued, “it cannot be ignored that they have chosen to take on a series of tests to judge their character, and the care that they have for people like us.  They have already succeeded in retrieving the Silver Moon.  But I ask you, the people of the gingerbread village: help us with the next task.  Let us see if they can find…the Golden Gumdrop!”

Behind the DeAngelo family, the toys there let slip sounds of intrigue and amazement.  But on the tables upon which the gingerbread villagers lived, a frenzy seemed to unleash.  The tiny people ran into buildings, only emerging a few moments later with siege weapons that were also made of the delicious confection.  Right behind them, piles of gumdrops were brought out, and Michael and Rhianna realized they were the ammunition that the trebuchets and catapults were meant to fire.

“Your task is simple,” Dawnspike insisted.  “All you have to do is find the Golden Gumdrop, and you will have proved your worth.  Now, is there a champion who would like to volunteer?”

None of the dogs truly understood what was happening, but Michael and Rhianna worriedly conferred with one another.

“Gumdrops are not safe for dogs to eat,” Michael said.  “If they’re going to be launching candies at our pups, we might be in serious trouble if they catch them.”

Maisie’s eyes grew wider then.  “Did you say catch?  Is that food?”

Rhianna tilted her head.  “It is little baby girl.  But it isn’t safe for you to eat.  Those kinds of candies can have a sweetener in them that can really hurt you.  Besides, you’re supposed to be on a diet.”

Maisie grumbled and bowed her head.  She lifted it with a bit of hope in her eyes the next moment though.  “Well, I don’t need to eat them.  Catching is my favorite part!”

“Are you sure you have the willpower to do that?” Michael wondered.  “I don’t know that I would.”

“I can do it,” she said.  “Let me try!”

Michael and Rhianna leaned forward, tousling the little black-and-white—and temporarily spotted—dog on the head.

Maisie turned around and proudly took a step forward then.  “I volunteer!”

Dawnspike gave an affirmative bow, and fluttered his miniscule wings as he moved out of the pup’s way.  “Very well then,” he said.  “Approach the village, and let the challenge commence!”

Almost as soon as the king gave his command for the task to begin, the first trebuchet fired, a gumdrop flying through the air.  Maisie’s eyes went wide, and she hopped to her side, putting herself in the line of fire.  She opened her mouth and let the candy’s trajectory guide it right onto her tongue.

Behind her, Michael and Rhianna watched on with a bit of anxiety, wondering if their pup had the discipline not to eat the gumdrops.

A little pop sound preceded the sight of the gumdrop hitting the floor.  “Grey,” Maisie said, announcing the color to ensure she only looked for the Golden Gumdrop.

But Michael and Rhianna looked at one another with confusion, for the one that was fired and spit out was red.

Rhianna smacked herself on the forehead then.  “Colorblindness!”

“Oh yeah,” Michael said, a bit of worry in his voice for a second.  “But it’s okay,” a bit of exuberance returned to him a moment later.  “Dogs can’t see green or red, but they can see blue…and yellow!”

Sure enough, Maisie announced when she found blue gumdrop buttons, or grey ones—which were either reds or greens that she could not quite distinguish.  But throughout the barrage of candy ammunition, not a single yellow one seemed to be fired.  Maisie ran back and forth, hopping up on her hind legs when she needed to in order to catch any of the volleys, but minutes later, she hadn’t announced finding the Golden Gumdrop.

She panted a little, having found much more exercise than she had expected.  “My tummy hurts just thinking about eating all of that!”

Rhianna arched an eyebrow, looking to the king of the outsiders.  “But where’s the golden one?”

Dawnspike wore a mischievous avian grin then.  “I never said that the villagers would fire the Golden Gumdrop with their devices.”

Michael stepped forward.  “That’s bad form.  They’ve just used the trebuchets as distractions while they’ve hidden the gumdrop.”

“What if they have?” Dawnspike asked.  “You wouldn’t risk damaging the gingerbread people’s homes to search for it, would you?  It seems this is a challenge you won’t be able to win.”

The toys in the area leading to the gingerbread village muttered to one another, whispering about the failure.

But Rhianna took a step forward and pointed her finger at the griffin king.  “Not so fast!”

Dawnspike looked as though he had to defend himself from a blow, the mighty creature bringing an arm up to defend himself.

“Maisie can still search for the gumdrop, and she can be respectful of the villagers as well.  If they’ll allow her to look in the buildings, that is.”

The king of the outsiders scoffed.  “There’s no way to safely do that.  She’s much bigger than those houses.”

“Hey!” Maisie shouted.  “I’m losing weight!”

“That’s right,” Rhianna said.  She slung the Santa sack forward, and began rooting through its contents, until she found what she was looking for.  “And with our help, she’ll lose a little bit more, too.”

Michael folded his arms across his chest.  “I take it this won’t be against the rules, will it, Your Majesty?”

Dawnspike grumbled then.  “No, I suppose it wouldn’t.”

Rhianna bent down, showing Maisie the potion vial.  “This is going to shrink you down for a little bit.  But don’t worry, it only lasts for a little while.  Zelda’s already grumbling about not being able to fly again.”

“It’s not fair!” the eldest dog whined behind them.

“Just make sure not to step on me,” Maisie pleaded.  She gave a sad look to Michael and Rhianna, but an intense look to Luna.

“We promise,” Michael said.  “We know what that big Great Dane did to you before we got you.”

“And we know what a klutz Luna is,” Rhianna noted.

“Huh?” the big mutt wondered.

“She is very much your daughter,” Michael insisted.

Maisie made a little whimper, but she blew out a little canine sigh then as she alternated glances at the people who loved her.  “All right.  I’ll do it.”

“You’re becoming so brave,” Rhianna said.  She leaned down and gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

Just as she had with Zelda, Rhianna poured the contents of the blue potion out on the floor.  Maisie sniffed at it a bit but thought better of trying to determine if she would like it.  Remembering what was at stake, she lapped up what she could.

“It tastes weird with the flavor of the candies still in my mouth,” she said.  The middle-sized pup sat there for a moment, blinking in the silence of the place.  “Is something supposed to—”

Before she could finish her thought, she began to rapidly shrink.  A bit of panic overtook her, but she was frozen by the morphing process.  “I’m going to disappear!” she cried in a quieter and quieter voice as she became more and more miniaturized.  She ended up looking a bit smaller than the gingerbread cookie people, though she was far less used to it.

Michael put his hand down on the ground beside her, and she was careful to step up onto what looked like an oversized mitt to her.  Already shivering with worry, Maisie’s body locked up as she was lifted into the air.

Taking gentle, careful steps toward the gingerbread village upon the tables, Michael worked slow to alleviate any fears the dog might have had.  When he arrived there, he flattened his hand out again, bringing it in line with the edge of the table, to give Maisie as level a ledge as she could get.  She hopped off, and shook her body, ridding herself of any nervous energy she had.

Within the gingerbread village, she felt much more at ease.  She watched the little people walking around, moving the big siege engines back into the various buildings.  Maisie realized that, though she had shrunk down to the size of a little figurine, the gingerbread people were still much smaller in proportion to actual people.  And as Maisie walked about, sniffing the air for a scent of the Golden Gumdrop, she caught more than a few whiffs of the village and its villagers.

“Gingerbread is okay for dogs in small doses,” she muttered to herself.

One of the gingerbread people walked by the small dog, and she sniffed a little bit more, salivating at the delicious aroma.

She shook her body again and huffed a little.  “Don’t do it,” she told herself.  “Eating people is not okay, and only Luna is allowed to do that.”

Maisie wiggled her nose, almost as though she was trying to switch up what she was smelling.  It must have worked, for she was able to detect a sweeter, less savory aroma in the air.  She looked around, trying to detect which direction the scent seemed to emanate from.

In doing so, she turned all the way around, to look off the table, and she saw Michael and Rhianna looking down at her.  She gasped in fright for a second before remembering that she had been shrunk down by the potion.  Maisie turned that nervous energy into a playful bow, stretching out her body.  When she rose up once more, she burst into motion, eager to find the Golden Gumdrop.

Emboldened by the knowledge that her family was nearby, Maisie weaved a path between gingerbread villagers.  She drew closer to the confectionary buildings and sniffed at the doors before moving onto the next one.

Before long, the scent of the Golden Gumdrop was overpowering.  She reached a house where it seemed a good deal of gingerbread people lingered, crowding the area around the front doors.  As she approached the entrance to the building, the folks there squashed together, trying to make it more difficult for the dog to proceed.

In a much louder voice behind her, Maisie could hear Michael speak.

“Now, you’re not trying to scare our little one into not finding the gumdrop, are you Dawnspike?”

“Bad form,” Rhianna echoed her husband’s sentiment from the first task.

Dawnspike sighed and sat on his backside.  The mighty king lifted his hands and made a separating motion with them.

Maisie watched as the gingerbread villagers stepped out of her way.  One even opened a pair of double doors for her, revealing the spectacular Golden Gumdrop on a pedestal inside.  The little dog—made littler by the magical potion—excitedly spun about in circles, wagging her tail as the gingerbread people gave up any notion of hiding their treasure, and instead approached her to give her pets and affection.

“You have succeeded in your second challenge,” Dawnspike said.  He hummed to himself then.  “I am beginning to believe that you truly do have our best interest at heart.  But we set out to create three tasks for you, and three we shall have.  Let us see if you have what it takes to finish the third and final task of the series.”

*          *          *

Even fewer outsiders were with them then as they weaved through additional paths of the mountain palace.  As they moved along, Taub stopped to spin the winding key atop his head.  Rhianna once more helped him out, and that time, as she did so, the little clockwork cat kicked with his back leg as though he was being scratched behind the ears.

“Curious,” he said once he was fully tuned once more.  “We have been traveling west, but our means of leaving this island is far to the east.”

“Well, what are the chances of today of all days being the one that sees the island beginning to sink?” Rhianna mused.

“Each day the odds increase,” Taub stated matter-of-factly.

While they had their conversation, Michael and the pups hurried on ahead, following Dawnspike as he made his way toward a wide-open vestibule which overlooked the western sea.

Luna knew that it was her turn to be brave and complete a task next, but the other pups who had succeeded had a little less to worry about.  They yammered back and forth.

“I definitely feel a bit lighter,” Zelda said.

“Do I still look a little smaller than usual?” Maisie wondered.

Neither of them seemed to notice the squad of person-sized toy soldiers who stood at the end of the overlook.  Dressed to appear somewhat like nutcrackers, they wore plastic hats atop their heads, which had Luna feeling extra suspicious of their behavior.

Michael hummed, noticing that they stood in a wedge formation, and that there were precisely ten of them.  It did not take long for him to spot the kettlebell in the vestibule as well, and he immediately knew what the challenge would be.  Before he could share any of the details with the largest DeAngelo family pup, however, Dawnspike cleared his throat to speak.

“It is time for you to complete your quest,” the mighty griffin said, sounding much more encouraging than he had before the previous challenges.  “With one last trial, we are down to the last of the outsiders.  Will you, with the ruffles, brave this quest, as the others did before you?”

Luna opened her mouth and breathed out a hefty sigh.  “I don’t know what I’ve got to do, but I’ll do it!”

“This one is a simple exercise,” the outsider king declared.  “We have ten soldiers over there who will stand bravely in the sight of danger.  Your job is to knock them over in one go—all of them.”

“She can definitely do this,” Michael said, bearing a confident grin.  He bent down, falling to a knee, and ignoring the popping sound as he dropped.  “This one is going to be super easy for you, Luna,” he said, scratching her neck.  “You remember your jumbler at home, right?  It’s just like this big kettlebell.  All you have to do is run it over to the soldiers and knock them over with it.  That big one in the front will knock over all the others if you hit him first.”

“But that one is a lot bigger than my toy at home,” Luna said as she looked at the hefty kettlebell.

Rhianna arrived beside her then as well, dropping the Santa sack on the ground before her.  “You’re going to be a lot bigger than when we’re at home, too!”  She took out the final potion, a green concoction swirling within the flask.  “You watched as your sisters did their tasks.  You should be able to lift that thing no problem!”

Luna was already sniffing at the vial’s cork, detecting the faint aroma within.  As Rhianna poured the contents on the floor, the biggest DeAngelo dog lapped up what was there.  She knew that it tasted bitter, her nose scrunching up as she contended with the flavor, but she also understood how important it was to complete the task.

And she also really wanted to lift the kettlebell.

She seemed to grow much faster than Maisie had shrunk, almost pushing Michael and Rhianna away when she reached full size.  Her two sisters also skittered a bit farther from her, knowing what a clumsy pup she was when she was regular size.

Luna looked around, realizing that she towered over nearly everyone in attendance.  The only one that still stood a little taller than her was the immense griffin king who oversaw the tasks.  And he seemed a bit worried about seeing another in attendance who was close to him in size.

Dawnspike deflected from that unease by sweeping out his taloned hand, gesturing toward the overhang upon the western sea.  “At your leisure, you may begin the final challenge.”

Luna could not contain her excitement, and she hurried over to the kettlebell.  Luckily, there was some rubber padding around the ball and the handle, so when the pup clamped it between her teeth, she didn’t have to worry about chipping any of them.  When she lifted the thing, she realized how heavy it was, even in her current state.  There was no way she would have been able to pluck it from the ground if she was smaller.

Her family noticed another peculiarity then.  The ruffle that appeared as part of her disguise flattened down against her chest and her legs because of the heft of the item.  She didn’t seem to notice at first, mostly because she wasn’t contemplating the challenge, but having fun moving the kettlebell around.

“Luna,” Michael said.  “Don’t forget you have to knock down the soldiers.”

“Oh yeah!” the dog said, excited about the prospect of playful carnage.

As she approached the overhang, the toy soldiers there tried their best to appear unwavering.  But Luna towered over them, and wielding that kettlebell, she looked like an unrivaled force of destruction.

“Remember, little baby,” Rhianna said, despite the immense size of their pup, “you have to knock them all down in one go!”

Luna’s eyes grew a little wider then, having heard the reiterated rules.  She remembered what Michael said, that she needed to hit the one in the front, and that he would topple all the rest.

With a burst of energy, she charged forward.

For a few moments, everything seemed fine.  But the heft, size, and shape of the kettlebell was not conducive to sprinting forth.  As she moved, she became a bit tangled up, and the kettlebell slipped from her mouth, rolling off to the side.

It would not hit a single soldier.

Those in attendance gasped, realizing that the challenge was likely to end in failure.

But her family had not given up.  Michael stepped forward, cupping his hands over his mouth.

“Luna!” he cried.  “Flippu-dippu!”

The large dog heard the phrase that rang out whenever she played with her family and was meant to do a somersault.  Though she was still stumbling forward, she lowered her head, tucking it between her front arms.

And then, she slowed her approach, allowing her rump to lift into the air.

Everyone else watched as the leading toy soldier opened his eyes as wide as they would allow.

There was no hope of the soldiers remaining upright.  The first one flung back into the rest, and one by one, the rows felt the force of Luna’s hefty butt.  Only a few seconds later, all the toy soldiers lay on the ground, either groaning by the force of their fall, or laughing at the inanity of it.

Luna rolled over to her stomach and shook her head.  She looked at her family, who cheered and clapped, and she began to pant in excitement, happy to have finished her trial.

“Well done,” Dawnspike said, a hint of pride to his voice, though it at first seemed lost to the applause in the palace.  “Well done!” he cried out, gathering everyone’s attention.  “You have done what you set out to do, and you’ve finished your trials.  You certainly do have the people of this island in mind, and I appreciate you partaking in the challenges.

“While I would have given your warning consideration before, I must give it real thought now,” the mighty griffin continued.  “Perhaps we will reach out to advisors from—”

King Dawnspike was interrupted then by a strange alarm sound.  The DeAngelo family looked about, trying to determine where the sound was coming from, but they realized that the outsiders were just as confused and concerned.  Everyone in attendance seemed to realize at the same time that it was Taub, the little clockwork cat, who emitted the sound.  His eyes had turned red, and he seemed frozen, like when Leoden took over.

“Warning,” a deeply robotic voice sounded from within Taub’s chassis.  “Warning.  Seismic activity detected.  Prepare for possible catastrophic event.”

The prominence atop Dawnspike’s eyes fell, and he wore a look of genuine concern.  “What is the meaning of this?  Certainly, the island cannot be at risk so soon.”

But almost as soon as he finished speaking, those in the area felt a massive tremor beneath their feet.

Michael reached out and tried to steady his wife.  “Look to the horizon,” he instructed.

“Oh, my vertigo is not going to like this,” Rhianna said.

Zelda was also not happy with the occurring events.  The fluffy little dog shivered and shook, looking around nervously while she licked her lips.  Maisie and Luna were there beside her in an instant—though of course Luna forgot how big she was, and almost stomped on both of her sisters.

As the first bout of shaking stopped, Taub looked up to the ambassadors he traveled with.  “I will go back to the place you arrived on the island.  Perhaps I can summon the mechanical dolphins you traveled here with.”

“Absolutely not,” Rhianna said.  “You’re one of us now, and we stick together.”

Michael, meanwhile, tried to appeal to the leader of the outsiders, calling for action.  “Your Majesty, we need to get your people to safety!” he yelled.

Dawnspike’s gaze landed upon his panicking citizens.  It took a moment to shake himself from his worry and look at the visitor.  “We don’t have any ships.  How are we to save everyone?”

Despite the uneasy feeling Rhianna had, and the lack of balance she contended with, she turned to the griffin king, and then lifted her enchanted Santa sack.  We don’t have to get everyone onto something.  We can just get them into this.”

“This palace is huge,” Michael said.  “We’re not going to be able to get to everyone in time.”

“We can all meet somewhere,” Zelda said through chattering teeth.

“The gingerbread people have the littlest legs,” Maisie said.  “We should all meet there so they don’t have to go so far.”

Michael bent down and patted the little black-and-white-and-spotted dog.  “That was very compassionate of you, Maisie.”  He rose then and looked to the king.  “Any objections to that?”

“No,” Dawnspike said.  “It is a good plan.  I’ll go to round up everyone and bring them back there.  As they arrive, please take care to move them to safety.”

“Understood,” Michael said.

“I can go to the entrance of the castle, and get Knightmare and Jouster,” Luna said.  “I’ve got longer legs now.”

Michael found it hard to argue against that notion, but he did feel very worried about allowing the embiggened pup to venture off on her own.  “Just… Be careful, and make sure you make it back to us safely.”

Luna gave a quick bow, and sprinted off into the corridor behind everyone, not worrying about the people who had to push out of her way.

Seeing the speed at which she took off, everyone else dispersed as well, hoping to find their loved ones and make it to safety.

*          *          *

A little bigger than she was before, Maisie was just able to stand up with her paws on the tops of the tables that the gingerbread village sat upon.  The confectionary people climbed down her legs and held on tight to her short coat.  Zelda was there beside her a moment later, fighting past her fear and stretching her legs so that she could reach the table as well.

Together, the two dogs took the gingerbread people in small groups, letting them off on the ground before the outstretched Santa sack.  Michael and Rhianna held it out wide, urging the citizens of the island into the container.  With each person who passed into the bag, it was like an inky black puddle was ready to spill from it.  But more than once, someone who went in emerged again, just to ensure they would be able to escape once they were to a safer place.

At Michael’s insistence, those who could carried the houses from the gingerbread village into the sack.

Whenever someone seemed to push to hurry things up, Dawnspike echoed out his disappointment, encouraging his people to exercise calmer demeanors.

Another violent tremor shook the castle then, eliciting screams and shouts from the outsiders.  Rhianna dropped the sack and braced herself on the nearest table.  Michael also released his hold then, and he watched as great fissures appeared in the earthen ceiling above them.  He followed the cracks until he saw it begin to form atop the littlest members of their family.

Before he could move, Rhianna grabbed hold of the pickaxe, tugging it from her husband’s belt.  She arrived between Maisie and Zelda in an instant, and with the pickaxe above her head, the stray stones that fell from the ceiling stopped in midair, as though they had fallen atop an invisible shroud.  From there, they fell harmlessly to the floor, and the dogs—and Rhianna—breathed a sigh of relief.

“I think we found the cure for your vertigo,” Michael said.  “Threat of harm to our puppies.”

“I did not know my legs could move that fast,” Rhianna said, between bouts of panting.  “I am going to nap all the way through Christmas.”

“Can you imagine?” Michael asked.

The king of the misfits cleared his throat then, catching the attention of his guests once more.  “If you would,” he said, gesturing with his head toward the Santa sack.

Michael and Rhianna hurried to grab hold of the enchanted container again, and the procession resumed heading into the unknown.  Before long, the line of people began to dwindle, and the folks from the gingerbread village were all inside the sack.

Peering up and over the group, Michael noted that the last member of their family still had not returned.

“She had better be all right,” Michael muttered to his wife.

“One of us should have gone with her,” Rhianna agreed.

“If she doesn’t show up soon, I want you to take the other doggies and Taub, and hurry to the edge of the island,” Michael said.

“I’m not leaving you,” his wife replied.

“You’ve got to start the iceberg and get it warmed up,” Michael said, trying to inject some jest into the frantic events unfolding.

Within only a few more moments, the rest of the toys were able to make their way into the sack.  A bit of panic swept over Michael then, and he handed his portion of the sack to Rhianna and prepared to head toward the corridor leading toward the entrance of the castle.

But before he could take two steps, they heard a noise emanating from outside there.

“Wee!” Luna’s voice rang out.  A few moments later, they saw the jester atop his ostrich mount, but he carried Luna under his arm, the dog keeping her legs outstretched as though she were flying.  “Look everyone!  I’m little again!”

“Littler than you were, anyway,” Zelda said.

Though she was not atop a quick-running bird, Knightmare was close behind the others, snorting as she ran.  All of them stopped to catch their breath when they arrived before the visitors and their king, though Luna’s panting may have been due to her excitement.

As Jouster and Knightmare skidded to a stop in the room, they carefully set Luna down on the ground, looking to their king for guidance.

“Where is everyone else, my liege?” Knightmare asked.

Dawnspike extended his arm and pointed a single talon toward the red sack.  “They’re right where you’ll be in a few moments.  The visitors have the means to get everyone to safety.  That bag is key.  When you climb inside, you’ll find yourself with much more space than you’d be led to believe.  And when you’re on solid ground again, the ambassadors will release you from within.”

Knightmare looked as though she was about to protest, but another fierce tremor shook the castle then.  She and Jouster sped forth, withdrawing into the extradimensional container.

“Your turn, Your Highness,” Michael said, looking to the mighty griffin.

But Dawnspike was already shaking his head.  “No, I’m afraid not.  It was my choice to settle in here on this island.  I was the one who brought all of the outsiders here.  If it wasn’t for you, I would have never been able to evacuate everyone.  This place was my decision, and so I shall be the one to see it fall apart and wash away.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Rhianna said.  “Your people needed you before, and they’ll need you after, once they get to safety.”

But the king of the misfits seemed ill-equipped to listen to reason.  He withdrew within himself, lost in regret and shame.

The three pups came up to him, swatting at him with their little paws.

“We need you!” Zelda said.  “None of us really remember how to get out of this place, so snap out of it and help lead the way!”

The dog’s words did seem to reach Dawnspike, and he shook himself from his stupor.  He alternated glances between each of the DeAngelo family members, as well as the little clockwork cat, and once he was certain of himself, he gave an affirmative nod.  He whipped around, turning out of the room, and began to sprint forward.

“Follow me!” he cried out.  “I know a shortcut.”

*          *          *

While the island shook and rumbled, the weather outside had cleared.  The family could see the ice floe that they had arrived in, though it was far from the island then.  The dolphins seemed interested in giving the place a wide berth, especially as sheer mountains of ice cracked and crumbled not far from the shore.

Dawnspike led them to a path through the mountains that would never have been visible from the ground.  “If you keep to this road, it will take you right to the edge of the island,” he bade.

“Why does that sound again like you’re not coming with us,” Rhianna asked.

The king sighed and looked back at his castle.  “I can’t stand the idea of watching all that we made together fall apart with no one here to be there for it.  And what if there are others inside that are in danger?”

“That’s the magic of what you created, King Dawnspike,” Michael said.  “You made a place where no outsiders remained outsiders.  Everyone was together.  Everyone was loved.”

“That’s right,” Rhianna said.  “And your castle isn’t what you built here on the island.  It’s what you made between your people.”

He still seemed hesitant to leave, alternating glances between the home he had known, and the extradimensional container that Rhianna held onto.

Michael reached out to squeeze his wife’s hand.  “Come on.  Let’s hope that he makes the right choice.  But we have an obligation to the people in that bag.”

As Michael and Rhianna began heading forward, the dogs raced ahead.  Taub couldn’t quite keep the pace, and Michael scooped him up as they made their way forward.

Luna, Maisie, and Zelda hurried on ahead.  Though Luna was all the way in the front, she constantly looked back over her shoulder to make sure that the others were following after her.  Zelda was quick in her old age, and she was persistent and stubborn, and refused to allow fatigue to bother her.  Maisie had a bit of a problem keeping up with her sisters—she didn’t have their conditioning, and she contended with a bit of a bum leg—but she still knew that she needed to push on as fast as she could, and she gave it her all.

Michael and Rhianna hurried on, too, racing as quickly as they were able.

They would soon learn they were not fast enough.

An echoing crack resonated across the island, and they didn’t realize what had happened at first.  But only a few moments later, Michael, Rhianna and Taub rose up into the air, the island shorn into pieces by the latest tremor.

Despite the section of the island rising into the air, Michael and Rhianna kept on running, even as the path before them seemed to descend toward the sea.  Their pups were far ahead of them by then, and they watched as they skittered and spun about to try and run back the other way.

“Michael, what do we do?” Rhianna asked.

So distracted by the sight of the scared dogs, Michael didn’t hear her concerns at first.  And despite the foolishness of the act, he kept running forth faster and faster.

“Hold on tight, Taub,” he called out.

“I would caution you against rushing toward the water,” the clockwork cat said.  “The risk of hypothermia is—”

The tracker could not finish his thought, because Michael dove headfirst then, sliding on his belly down the icy path that led toward the end of the island.  The way forward grew steeper and steeper as the island continued to flip upward.

Michael heard Rhianna cry out behind him, but he had his plan in motion already.  He lowered his head, removing any air resistance he could.  He could feel Taub tuck in behind him, too, as though the little tracker could sense what he was doing.  Michael kept his eyes open, despite the white and pale blue color of the island racing by.  He needed to know the precise moment to—

He watched as a different set of colors slid by him.  Black-and-white, and pink spots struggled to stay in place on the island.  Then a darker auburn color, and a bright red spot that set the ice aglow.  And finally, Michael could see Luna’s ruffles pass him by.

Or rather, he passed them.  He lifted his head, and realized how close the icy water was beneath them.  Only a few dozen feet away, he knew that a plunge beneath those frigid waves could have him paying the ultimate price.

“Now, Taub,” he called out, and as he rolled over, the clockwork cat squirmed from around his back to his chest.  Michael reached down and grabbed hold of the glissium pickaxe.  He plucked it from its spot, and with a quick swing, the blade struck the ice and held firm.  Michael’s arm nearly tugged from its socket as his momentum stopped.

All three dogs cried out as they continued to slide, but Michael swung his body around, kicking a single boot into the ground so that he could lay sideways across the steep decline.

Luna struck him first, and he thought that he would lose grip of the pickaxe.

But Taub was there, wrapping his arms around Michael’s hand, and the tool, ensuring the human could hold on.

Zelda bumped up against Luna next, and Michael reached out to grab hold of them both, squishing them against the ice and snow, and ensuring they could rest on his stomach.

Maisie skittered as best as she could, but she slid down next, hitting Michael on his leg.  He could feel the tension in his body, knowing that he didn’t have a good grip with his hand—despite the clockwork cat’s assistance—or his foot.  Anything could upset the balance.

They all heard Rhianna’s cry then, the woman sliding faster than the others had, for the island kept tipping farther and farther upward.

Michael reached out with his free hand then, grabbing hold of his wife’s arm as she passed.  With someone on the other side of him then, momentum carried him that way, and he swung wildly to the side.  The dogs swung in the opposite direction then, chaos unfolding on that vertical block of ice.  Luna grabbed hold of Michael’s side, Zelda hugged her around her hips, and Maisie clutched onto Zelda for dear life as they slid, and it was only by everyone’s momentum that Maisie’s feet landed on Rhianna’s boot, the entire family precariously balanced.

“Is this it?” Zelda asked.  “Is this our last big North Pole adventure?”

“Don’t think that way,” Rhianna said.  “We’ll figure something out.”

“You may not need to,” Taub said in his matter-of-fact tone.

Michael dared to look the other way, stretching his neck as far as it would allow.  He spotted another huge chunk of ice floating in the water there.  But it was who was on it that soon had his attention.

They mighty king of the outsiders, the griffin Dawnspike, charged across the ice floe, and with a tremendous leap, he took to the air.  His undersized wings flapped, and though they likely did not aid in his momentum, he still leapt far and high.  With an immense crash, he slammed into the iceberg, and another cacophonous crack echoed out into the region.  That sound was eclipsed a moment later as part of the island plunged into the water far below.

But none of the DeAngelo family could truly appreciate what that meant.  For as the island had tilted forward before, it began to pivot back the other way a moment later.

“Let me off this ride!” Rhianna cried as they swung back around.

Another huge noise resounded as the fragment of the island that they clung to slammed into the sea.

Michael could no longer hold on, and they all lifted into the air.

A few moments later, they struck the ground again, crying out in fear or confusion.

But they were steady.  And they were safe.

Dawnspike’s maneuver had tilted their island back the other way.

Michael sat up, wincing from the aches in his body.  He grabbed hold of Rhianna then, helping his wife to her feet as well.

“Did Dawnspike…?” Rhianna tried to ask.

Michael shook his head.  “The last thing I saw, he was on that piece of the island that broke off.”

Before anyone could even begin to worry or mourn, they watched as a clawed hand reached up over the ledge of the island.  Another reached up a moment later, and then the griffin king began to pull himself up to solid ground.

“You saved us, Your Majesty!” Rhianna said.

“And he saved his people,” Michael added.  “I don’t know what would have happened if we plunged into the water.”

While Dawnspike had a moment to take pride in his heroics, he soon found himself saddened once more.  The sight of his home crumbling to pieces filled his gaze as he looked west.  The great castle, fashioned out of the icy mountain, fell to ruin, and there was nothing that could be done to save it.

“Some day you’ll make a new castle,” Maisie said, the first to break the silence.  “And it will be even bigger and better.”

Dawnspike turned to regard the little pup, offering her a weary nod.

Behind them, they listened to strange robotic noises emitting from the clockwork cat’s body.  They thought at first that Leoden’s voice would echo out of Taub’s frame again, but the family realized soon after that he was making noises for another reason.  A few seconds later, the dolphins leapt out of the water, bringing the other ice floe that they had traveled on close.

“Well, this looks like it’s our ride,” Michael noted.  “Once we get back to the workshop, I think we’ll be able to help you and your people figure out a plan.”

“You are coming with us, right?” Rhianna asked.

The king of the misfits breathed out an unsteady sigh then but nodded in the affirmative.  “I have to see the first steps of our people finding new homes.  What may follow after that, I don’t know, but…”

“We’ll take it one step at a time,” Rhianna said.  “That’s all we can do.”

“Speaking of which,” Michael said.  He reached across the gap, digging his pickaxe into the ice floe to pull it close.  Once it was steady, the three pups and the clockwork cat hurried across.  “Let’s not linger too long,” Michael said to his wife and the griffin king.  “We don’t know what kind of waves might be coming our way as the sea beneath the island churns.”

Rhianna and Dawnspike saw reason in that comment, and they made their way onto the smaller chunk of ice, and Michael was quick to follow them.

“All right, you dolphins,” Rhianna said.  “Let’s head back to the rest of our friends.”

With some chittering and squeaking in response from the clockwork creatures, they began on their way.

*          *          *

Leoden and Revan clinked a pair of mugs together, and then took sips of hot cocoa.  Behind them then, a hum sounded, and they turned to see the portal yawn to life.

The readings that Leoden received from Taub let them know that the mission had been a success.  They fully anticipated their return, and when the first of them came through, it soon became clear that the two elves were not alone.

Taub walked through first, but the three pups were close behind them, and soon after, Michael and Rhianna stepped through the portal as well.  Cheers broke out, and the DeAngelo family realized that many of the friends they have made over the year had joined them there in the workshop.

Though they took a moment to bask in the glow of their success, Michael and Rhianna stepped aside, and gestured toward the portal then.  Dawnspike stepped through the gateway, squeezing through, for it was just a little too small for him.

“May we present King Dawnspike,” Rhianna called out.

The dozens of attendees in the workshop cheered for the great king as well, already hearing of his deeds, and learning about how he had rescued his people, and Santa’s advisors and ambassadors.

“So, what did you think?” Leoden asked.  “Was that an adventure worthy of the DeAngelo family?”

Michael nodded.  “I think it might have been a little too adventurous there for a time.  But we were glad for the distraction.”

“And we’re glad that it might have served you so,” Revan said.

Rhianna drew near to the table there as well, and she hoisted Taub onto it, gently placing the little clockwork cat on the map-emblazoned surface.

“So, what do we end up doing with this little guy now?” she asked.  “He doesn’t exactly have an island of misfit toys to go and rescue anymore.  Speaking of which…” Rhianna arched an eyebrow and pulled the enchanted Santa sack closer, too.  “I think we’re going to have to find new homes for just about everyone.”

Leoden’s eyes flashed, and he lifted his hands up.  “Whoa there.  Let’s wait just a second.  I want to make sure that the refugees have room before we open up that bag.”  He turned to the tracking cat though, leaning forward to pat the clockwork critter on the head.  “In your case, Taub, I think I’ve found just the thing for you.  We’ve been doing some research, and according to some literature we read, it’s come to our attention that most wizards need a familiar, and that some of the best ones are cats.”

“We’re ready for you,” Revan called out.

The crowd seemed to part to allow one of the esteemed guests through.  He hadn’t been at the party in Santa’s house, so it appeared that he had arrived fashionably late.

“Raskagar!” Zelda cried out.

The old wizard waved to the DeAngelo family, but he approached the table with some concern and curiosity.  When he arrived there, he gasped for a second at the sight of the clockwork kitty, and Taub’s ears went back as he bowed down.

“Oh, you’ll have to forgive me, my friend,” Raskagar said.  “Once, not so long ago, I was a tiny little mouse.  I think I still have some fears embedded in me from that time.”  The wizard leaned on the table, then, smiling at the metallic creature.  “Oh, but you’re not so frightening, are you?  In fact, you look like a dapper fellow.”

Taub looked at Leoden then, seeming a little bit confused.

“You know what this is, right?” the elf asked.  “You’re about to go into retirement, my friend.  No more getting lost in the cold.  Instead, you’ll have a nice warm wizard’s tower to lounge around in.”

“And I’m sure you’ll love my apprentice, as well,” Raskagar said.  “Oh, Barnabus is going to be just smitten with you.”  He waved him on then, and as the wizard walked away, Taub hopped off the table to follow him.  “Now one of the things we’ll have to do is cast just a little bit of magic on you.  You won’t need that winding key much longer, as we’ll make sure your gears are always turning.”

Michael and Rhianna smiled as Raskagar walked away to interact with the newest member of his own family then.  But they were distracted when Leoden and Revan reached down and began pushing the table aside.

“Well, come on then,” Revan said.  “More hands make for lighter burdens!”

The two humans of the DeAngelo family lent their assistance to the task, and before long, a much bigger space was left on the floor of the workshop.

As Michael and Rhianna grabbed hold of the red velvet Santa sack, the DeAngelo pups ran excitedly about in circles, eager to see the new friends they had made.  One by one, the misfits they had rescued emerged from the sack, hugging one another once they realized had indeed found a way to safety, and offering warm greetings to their rescuers.  They spotted Dawnspike lingering in the shadows at the back of the workshop, and gave him their praise and adulation, especially upon learning that he had saved them from the brink of doom.

And then, the esteemed guests who had ventured to the North Pole for Santa’s party took a step forward, welcoming the misfit toys to the workshop.

For quite some time, revelry and laughter filled the air.  Happiness seemed like a foregone conclusion.

But Dawnspike approached Michael and Rhianna after some time and cleared his throat.  The two humans looked at the griffin king, and looked at him with curiosity, for he seemed a bit suspicious about something.  When he gestured ahead, they noticed that at some point during the celebration, the illusory magic making the dogs look like toys had worn off.  Gone were Maisie’s spots, Zelda’s red nose, and Luna’s ruffle, the pups instead just seeming like the happy little mutts they were.

Michael and Rhianna looked back at Dawnspike, a little nervous about what he would think of such a thing.

The griffin king simply laughed, shaking his head.

“While I don’t appreciate the secrets you had to keep, I understand why you did what you did.”  He harrumphed to himself.  “No, what I really am disappointed with is that we thought we had to exile ourselves to such a dangerous place to begin with.  I demand to see the person who created us.  Who saw it in themselves to make us and subsequently consider us monstrosities?”

Leoden had heard the raised voice, and he could see the worried looks of panic on the faces of his guests, and he hurried over to placate the honored king.

“Your Majesty,” the elf said.  “I actually have someone important for you to meet here.”

With a whistle, another guest was summoned, though that one seemed far less imposing than the great wizard who had come to gather up the little clockwork cat earlier.  A short fellow, with thick patches of fuzz on the sides of his head, but none up top, came scurrying over to the mighty griffin.  The gnome looked on with narrowed eyes, not quite being able to see the people he stood with.  But he reached up, grabbing a pair of goggles.  When he slid them down on his face, his eyes became enlarged, and they lit up at the sight of the king of the misfits.

“King Dawnspike,” Leoden said.  “This is one of the oldest workshop attendants we have here at the North Pole.  I’d like to introduce you to Yeston.”

The powerful leader of the misfits stood tall, casting a judgmental gaze upon the diminutive gnome.  “Well then.  What do you have to say for yourself?”

“For myself?” the little crafter asked.  “Nothing.  But I do have something to say about you.”  He peered all about the griffin, noting every stitch, every tuft of fur and feather about the powerful creature.  For a moment, Dawnspike was reminded that he, too, was a toy.  “You’re just as beautiful here in person as you were when I dreamed you up,” Yeston said.

Dawnspike seemed as though he was the only one in the building who was buffeted by an immense gale.  His legs shook beneath him, and for a second, emotion overwhelmed him.  “What do you mean by those words?” he demanded.  “If I am to be so appreciated, why was I discarded?”

“The answer to that, I cannot give you,” Yeston said.  “All I know is that you are exactly as I thought you should have been, and you were created as such to the letter.  Every thread is in place exactly as it should be.”  As he spoke, the gnome reached behind his back, and swung forth a tome that was chained to his belt.  When he swept open a latch on the front, and opened it up, a pen nearly rolled from the pages, but he was quick to reach out and grab hold of it.  A few moments later, he had turned to a page that he was excited to display.  “Look!”

There, facing the king, was a perfect image of him recorded on the old yellow pages of the book.  He looked just as majestic on the paper as he was in real life.  And there in the picture, as in reality, his wings were smaller than one would expect.

“I don’t make mistakes,” the gnome said, suddenly sounding much surer of himself.  “You were my masterpiece, but look, I have all of the people who these fine folk rescued here today.”

As he turned the pages, Dawnspike saw sketches of the toys that he had come to live with in the massive castle, and he even saw other toys that had not yet made their way to him yet.

“Now that you’re here, maybe you can help me with ideas for other toys that would make people happy,” the gnome said.

As the two conversed, Leoden waved Michael and Rhianna over, allowing the reunited creator and creation to speak.

“I don’t know if you heard that, but it is true,” the elf said.  “The outsiders that you were sent to rescue should have been anything but that.  They were created exactly to Yeston’s specifications.  They even had homes that they were meant to go to.”

“So why didn’t they reach them?” Rhianna asked.  “Why did they end up abandoned?”

Leoden shrugged and shook his head.  “We’re looking into it, but… There’s no reason that one of Santa’s workers would do that.  It’s very atypical for one of the people here to do that, and even Santa could not explain it.”

“Santa knows about it now?” Michael asked.

“Well, yes,” Leoden said.  “When Taub’s alert reached us, we called Santa right away.  We’re happy that you were able to find your way back safely, but we were ready to have our mutual friend rush to pull you out of the sea if he needed to.”

Rhianna flashed a nervous grin.  “I’m glad it didn’t come to that.  He told us to take it easy this year, and we almost turned into ice cubes.”

“We were almost pupsicles!” Zelda cried from a bit further into the room.

Michael glanced in that direction.  “That dog and her satellite ears,” he said.

“In any case, we’re all working our magic, trying to see if we can’t get some more details about how it came to this,” Leoden said.  “Christmas will have to come first, of course, but when we have news for you—”

The elf could not finish his thought, for the front door of the building slammed open, and a great figure stood in the doorway.  Michael and Rhianna could see Santa from where he stood, and his eyes were wide with shock to see all the people—and toys—that were in attendance.

“Well, this is a great surprise indeed,” Santa said.  “But it is also a very welcome one.”

In time, those in attendance explained the clandestine mission that the DeAngelo family had undertaken.  Santa met with many of the toys, including their fearless leader.  He reached down to pet the clockwork cat, eliciting a mechanical purr from the little critter.  And he raised a glass of eggnog in cheer to Leoden and Revan, two of his longest-serving assistants, for being brave enough to offer their friends a distraction that they knew was desperately needed.

As the revelry began to quiet, and Santa’s attendants helped the toys move out of the workshop, Santa spent a little more time with the other special guests he had invited to the North Pole.  He could see that they were a little tired from all the activity they experienced that day.  Rhianna sat on a large plush chair with Luna curled up and laying her head on her lap.  Michael was just in front of her, sitting on the floor atop a fluffy blanket.  Zelda and Maisie had him trapped on either side, the dogs there snoozing as well.

“So, you just couldn’t put your feet up for one Christmas, eh?” Santa asked Michael and Rhianna, reining in his often-boisterous voice so that he wouldn’t disturb the pups.  He waved off the notion.  “Leoden and Revan did a wonderful job.  There are all sorts of ways to try and separate ourselves from grief, and I do believe they found the one that was best suited to you.

“You know,” he continued, “we never truly had the chance to sit and talk earlier.  You made me this lovely wand, and I didn’t even get to remark on all the magic it has inside.”  He drew out the beautiful magical implement she had crafted and held it aloft for her to see.

Rhianna tilted her head and arched an eyebrow in curiosity.

Santa smiled and winked, and then with a flick of his wrist, he let magic fly forth from the wand.  Before them, the image of a fireplace took form, a quiet crackling emitting from within.  Rhianna and Michael shared a glance at one another, impressed that Santa had brought magic forth from her wand so soon.

“Ah, but that’s the wrong channel, isn’t it?” Santa asked.

He pointed the wand again, and the image of the fireplace changed.  Instead, it showed a glimpse of the future, on Christmas day, when children around many worlds would be opening their presents.

At first, nothing seemed quite out of the ordinary. It looked as though just anyone could be enjoying a pleasant morning with their family.  But then, Michael and Rhianna noticed a small, green-skinned child who opened a box to find a little bearded doll inside.  They recognized Dul in an instant, even though he was much smaller than when they had met him at Dawnspike’s castle.  After a few more children opened traditional gifts on Earth, they watched as a naga child jumped in surprise and joy at the sight of William springing from his box.  And moments later, Michael and Rhianna shared a laugh at the sight of a little rhinotaur child playing with Papier, his new rocking unicorn.  The images continued, and they even saw young Barnabus excitedly playing with his master’s new familiar, the little clockwork cat Taub—who no longer had the winding key affixed to his head.

“You may not have set out to do it, but you saved Christmas again, my friends,” Santa said.  “And not just for the children who had a few more sparks of joy, but for the little creations that might not have found their way home otherwise.”

Michael reached up and grabbed his wife’s hand, giving it a squeeze.

Rhianna blew out a little sigh though, then.

“Santa, with that wand, can you always see the future?”

The burly man in the red suit hummed to himself.  “Well, you know, the wand was made for me, and I was made for Christmas.  And while I can’t see quite as far in the future as I think you want me to be able to gaze, I think I can say that you and your family will be okay.”

He flicked the wand again, but that time, the images moved backward, until earlier that night.

“How am I supposed to tell this story?” the version of Michael in the image asked.  Though he wore a weary smile, there was a sadness there in his eyes as well.

The image cycled forward just a bit.

“Here, distract yourself with this,” the past version of Rhianna said, and there was a bit of melancholy there as well.  “Think about all the things you want to say,” she said a moment later.

“You all seem a bit quieter this year,” the image of Michael said.  And indeed, even the dogs seemed a bit lost in spite of the holiday spirit.

Michael—the one who was watching those images of themselves from the floor of Santa’s workshop—reached up and rubbed his wife’s leg.  Rhianna’s eyes were red, and she worked as hard as she could to keep any tears from falling down her cheek.

But when she watched Michael earlier that evening holding the door open for just a moment longer, as if he was waiting for Peanut to come scampering out of the house to join them on another adventure, she couldn’t hold it in anymore, and several tears streamed down from each eye.

She moved her hand to shield her eyes, but when she looked down and noticed her husband crying to, she instead reached out to him.

As soon as they squeezed each other’s hand, the image moved forward again, that time to many hours after they arrived at the North Pole.  Sitting on the moving ice floe, the DeAngelo family reminisced about their lost little loved one, talking about all the cute quirks they remembered her for.

“There is something special about those we choose to spend our time with during our lifetimes,” Santa said.  As he spoke, Michael and Rhianna realized that even he had a tinge of red in his eyes.  “It’s a spark that never truly fades, even when it seems like it would.  And in time, you’ll find that you protect those embers, and you bolster them with happy memories, instead of the saddest ones.”

Santa reached down and pat his friends on the shoulders, and then he slowly walked away so that they could take those moments to be with one another.

As he took his leave, the images changed one more time, to even further back.

Just as he said, Michael and Rhianna were bolstered by happier memories, and they watched as the little cat, gone but still an indelible part of their lives, moved about and played with the dogs, scratched herself against her toys, and lounged in the bed in front of the window, basking in the warm glow of the sunlight.

*          *          *

It was Christmas morning, and Michael and Rhianna quickly traded bleary eyes for glances of excitement as the dogs pawed eagerly at the presents beneath the tree.  They could tell that Santa had brought them a few more presents as well, as the ones they left under the tree for the dogs seemed to multiply.

“Are you all ready to open your presents?” Rhianna said as she and her husband sat down beside the tree and the electric fireplace.

The doggies spun about or barked, unable to contain themselves.  Rhianna passed the presents to Michael, and he handed them to the dogs.  Each of them began to unwrap their presents in their own way: Zelda swatted at the gifts with her paws in a frenzy, Maisie carefully pulled on the ribbon upon hers, and Luna tossed her head about to peel the wrapping paper off hers.  Before long, each of them had the present that Santa and his friends at the North Pole had prepared for them.

Zelda’s eyes grew wide when she first spotted her frisbee.  It was colored the same way that the Silver Moon had been, though it was made out of softer material.  She kept bringing it to Michael, who gingerly tossed it onto the couch before she would bring it back.

Maisie wagged her tail and presented her present to Rhianna.  It was a little costume that was colored the same way she was, but it had little pink spots on it.  She was happy to be dressed up then, and contentedly hurried to lie in her bed, under the mammoth blanket she had received years earlier.

Luna, on the other hand, was too excited to do anything but give her toy a shake.  The little orange tumbler reminded her of her bowling task at the North Pole, and she kept on moving it around the living room.  As she brought it close to Michael, he grabbed her under her belly, and playfully guided her into a flipping motion, the big pup landing in his lap.  She kicked and grumbled, but then she reached up to give him a smooch on his nose.  He let her roll from his legs, to continue playing with her toy.

“There’s a couple more for us,” Rhianna said.  She reached over and gave Michael a small gift addressed to him, too.

When he opened it, he found a small cartographer’s compass, and upon closer inspection, he noticed the fineness of its points.  As he narrowed his eyes, he realized that the compass had been tipped with glissium, the magical ore that had been found at the North Pole.

Rhianna unwrapped hers as well, and her eyes lit up once she saw the small crystal that had been sent her way.  She held it aloft, looking at it through the light of the window, and she realized that it was not some mere stone, but a chunk of Dawnspike’s castle.  The mighty griffin king must have gone back to where the island had been and found something for her to remember him by.

Michael and Rhianna squished closer together then, watching as their dogs played with their toys, or rested in their comfortable new attire.  Michael grabbed his wife’s hand and gave it a little squeeze.

When they looked at one another, they wore smiles that were mostly ones of joy, but they could both sense a bit of sadness still there.  Still, they knew that each day, that grief would diminish more and more, and they would fill it with more happy thoughts.

Above the little electric fireplace, a picture of Peanut rested on the wall.  It was illuminated by the light of Christmas morning, and the everlasting love of her family, who still kept her in their hearts.

A huge thank you to Leo Borazio and Steven Bellshaw for helping us with our bookmarks this year.  It is always a blessing to work with people who are so talented, especially when they are adding to something so personal.

The post Christmas Misfits appeared first on Tellest.

Christmas Comet

A Tale by Michael and Rhianna DeAngelo

The young pup ran from one member of her family to the next, harassing them until they grumbled or groaned or growled at her.  The only one who narrowly escaped her rampant acts of noodgery was the old cat who sat atop the stairs, glaring down in silent judgment.

“Do you remember being that young?” Michael asked, having become one with the couch.

“You mean running around excited for no good reason?” Rhianna asked.

“I mean being able to run around,” Michael replied.  “About being physically able to do…anything.”

“Yeah, that was just last year,” Rhianna said.  “And then we fought against frost giants and yetis.”

“Well, we can pretend that it was through glorious battle that we sustained these grievous injuries,” Michael said, leaning back with a groan, “but I know that I was bested by a heavy pile of snow and a non-ergonomic snowshovel.”

Rhianna nodded, demonstrating a bit more melancholy than usual for that festive time of year.  “I think all my suffering can be traced back to a stubbed toe a couple of years ago.”

The husband and wife were drawn from their thoughts when Luna, the newest member of their family, nipped at Zelda, their oldest pup.  Though it was a playful bite, Zelda was having none of it, and turned from the beautiful, sweet thing she was into a grumbly, grouchy thing who snarled like a beast and chased Luna away.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been a year already,” Michael said.

Rhianna nodded, but then she pinched her eyebrows together and tilted her head.  “Actually, for Luna, it feels like it’s been a few years.  Do you remember when she was just that little thing who looked like a mix between Zelda and Maisie, and we thought she’d be their size?”

“Just another of Loki’s box of tricks,” Michael said.  “We thought he’d turned over a new leaf, only to find that he gave us a whole tree!”

Passing a glance to the back door of the house, Rhianna folded her arms across her chest.  “I’m still not so sure the neighbors didn’t really get tricked into bringing Loki in as a spy, to always keep an eye on us.  I mean, it’s right there in the name.”

“Right, that’s what he wants you to think,” Michael said.  “That he’s just a dog.”

“We know your tricks, Loki!” Rhianna yelled, though Michael patted her on the shoulder, reminding her that it was nearly midnight.

Michael wasn’t the only one to react to the sudden increase in Rhianna’s volume.  Luna leapt onto the couch, and then stepped onto the cushions, only to lean forward and drape her arms over Rhianna’s shoulders a moment later.

“She’s backpacking!” Rhianna said, chuckling as Luna rested her head on Rhianna’s like she was trying to be some sort of furry hat.  While Michael and Rhianna gave her abundant pets, Luna began to pant excitedly.  “I wonder if she’s aware that something is going on.  The other animals are usually so tired around this time.”

“If they’re awake, something’s got to be going on, right Luna?” Michael asked, prompting the dog to tilt her head sideways.

That also seemed to be the only confirmation that the other dogs and the cat needed.  Zelda sat up on her hind legs then, getting into “treat-begging” position.  Though Maisie was burrowed underneath a blanket—her favorite place to be—her tail was already wagging in anticipation.  And Peanut… Well, Peanut was sitting atop her perch, at the halfway mark of the stairs, staring at Michael, Rhianna, and Luna, unblinking.

“It won’t be long now,” Rhianna said.  “Before you know it, the portal will be opened, and we’ll be headed back to see Santa.”

“And headed to see what apocalypses we have in store for us this year,” Michael joked.

Rhianna blew out a little sigh.  “Whatever it is, I hope it’s not another battle.  My knees can’t take another one!”

“Neither can my back,” Michael said, taking that opportunity to stretch into a better position.  “Hey, maybe that’s what we can put on our Christmas lists this year for Santa.”

“No thanks,” Rhianna said in a teasing voice.  “I already had too much meniscus.”

“Yeah, but with a little holiday magic, he could get you a brand-new knee.  Ooh, or maybe one of those hoverchairs from—”

Zelda squealed with excitement, begging as though there were leftover fries on the table. She whined, and whined, until Maisie joined into the silly chorus from underneath the covers, lending it a low, almost solemn howl.  Luna, never quite learning how to howl properly, eagerly joined in, adding her high-pitched, discordant yowls into the air.  They sounded more like the sound a toy laser gun would make than that of a distinguished canine.

“Pew, pew, pew,” Michael said, mocking the largest of their dogs.

Peanut descended the steps too, feeling the calling of the howl as well, though she never lent any sound to the pack.  But she climbed atop the ottoman at the end of the couch, passing a glance from one member of the chorus to the next.

“Oh, don’t be so judgmental,” Michael said, leaning forward to plant a kiss atop the cat’s head.

All the rest of the family could feel the Christmas magic beginning to arrive, but Luna, as excited as ever, kept up her noises.

“I wonder what she’s going to sound like,” Rhianna mused.  “Oh, good evening chaps.  I was just having some tea in my garden,” came her stately lady impression.

“You guys need to know you can never stop feeding meeee!” Michael replied with a faux squeaky voice.

But as the youngest dog’s fractured howls continued, they morphed into a different sound altogether, an almost singsong verse of “I.  Am.  The.  Best.  At.  Howls!  I.  Am.  The…the…”  There was an abrupt stop to her discordant music, and she tilted her head, her little eyebrows raising in surprise. “Wait… I sound funny.”

“Luna!” Rhianna said, squeezing their pup into a tight embrace.  “It’s so nice to hear you speak!”

The dog’s eyes went wide, and she forced out a sound.  “Bark!” she cried in the woman’s face, though she could no longer make the noise, and instead said the word as a person would have said it.

Rhianna closed her eyes and recoiled back from the loud noise.

When Luna realized she’d deafened her, she bowed her head, and pulled her ears back.  “Sorry, you told me to speak!”

“It’s okay, little one,” Michael said, tousling her fur between her ears.  “Little big one.  She doesn’t use those ears that much to listen to us these days anyway,” he teased his wife.

Rhianna looked pointedly at her husband and arched an eyebrow.  “Hmm?”

Together, the two nuzzled into each other, laughing at the playful insult.

But a list of real grievances needed to be aired, and Zelda, usually so refrained, rushed to the couch, and batted at Luna with her paw.  “You there!  You listen good!  You might be twice my size, but you’ll catch twice my vengeance because of it.  You ate all my toys!  And you don’t even have the decency to hide the fluff—oh dear, the fluff.  And…and…you try to steal my food, but I know!  I know every bite that’s missing.  It’s bad enough that Peanut does it!”  She cast a sideways glance at the cat.

“Stolen food simply tastes more satisfying,” Peanut purred with a feline smirk appearing on her face.  She almost seemed surprised to hear her Christmas voice, and she quickly set aside to grooming as a distraction, licking at the underside of one her paws as though it were more interesting than the conversations being held in the living room.

While Michael and Rhianna were more than happy to hear the newest member of their family talk—and receive a hilarious scolding from her older sister—they knew that they could not linger there indefinitely.  Maisie, quiet before then, hopped up from her spot on the couch, freeing herself from the warm embrace of the blanket.

She didn’t get far, though, before Luna was there beside her, cobbing the fur on the back of her neck.  “Wait,” Luna said between nibbles.  “You can’t leave me, okay?  We have to stay together.”

“I know,” Maisie replied with an exasperated sigh.

“Her first Tellest Christmas,” Rhianna said.  “And she already knows that something is up.”

“There something in the air,” Michael replied.  “Even if we didn’t keep all the fluffies awake well past their bedtime, she might have sensed something.”

As Rhianna swept the sliding door to the side, she could not see anything, even though she felt the change in the atmosphere that her husband had described.  It was almost as though a storm was coming, but the sky was clear, a canvas of stars twinkling down upon the family.

Rhianna turned to Michael, who stared across the way, and gestured with his chin to the fence that separated their house from one of their neighbors.  There, barely visible in the darkness, their white dog sat, looking up at the sky.

“Loki,” Michael whispered.

Luna ran outside to greet her friend through the fence, but before she took too many steps, she too realized that something was different about the world outside their house, and she stopped to sniff at the air.  The rest of the family joined her there, even Peanut, though she took a bit of time to saunter onto a comfy spot of grass before she chose to sit.

Michael closed the sliding door behind them.  “It is after midnight, if we go by them being able to speak,” he said to his wife.

“I hope it’s not going to be another situation where it’s late,” Rhianna replied.

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, a bright, swirling light appeared above them, and almost instantaneously along with it, a thick fog joined it.

“Oh no!” Zelda cried.  “Aliums!”

A little less concerned, Michael kept his gaze focused on the light above, until it expanded, and he realized that it was in fact the portal—though not quite where they’d often seen it in years past.

“Well, this is different,” he said.

The portal expanded, swirling like a disc in the air, and it hovered higher than the roof.  As the glow around its edges grew, extending for the length of its circumference, it set the ground below awash in an almost blindingly bright light.

“That is the portal though,” Rhianna said.

“What do they expect us to do?” Peanut said with a scoff.  “Jump?”

“I can do it!” Luna said, excitedly.  With a determined bark, she crouched low, wagging her tail.  Then, with all the strength she could muster, she leapt into the air, her ears flapping from the motion.

To everyone’s surprise, she didn’t come back down, instead remaining there in the air.  Those big, floppy ears never settled back on her head either, and neither did her jowls.  She kicked as best she could and began alternating glances at her family members in confusion as she panted with nervous energy.

“Luna!” Michael yelled, running forward, and reaching up for the pup.

But as soon as he stretched far enough, he too began to drift upward toward the portal.

“There we go,” Rhianna said.  “That’s how we get to see Santa this year.  Everyone, lift up your paws!”

Zelda excitedly stood on her hind legs, having had much practice in her begging position for almost a decade.  Peanut was a little hesitant to do anything she was told, but with a sigh, she did spring up into the air, showing that she was still spry after more than twice as long in the world as her next oldest sister.

Maisie had a bit of a hard time hopping up on her hind legs, prompting Michael to tell Rhianna to hold up before she hopped into the air.

“You don’t need to warn me,” Rhianna said.  “Our poor girl is just like me.  We both have bum legs.”  She took a knee next to Maisie, who bowed her head a little and sighed as she stepped upon the woman’s leg.  “It’s okay, little one.  You’re doing great.  And once we’re in the air, we’ll let the Christmas magic do all the work.”

That seemed to inspire the dog to make one last attempt at a little hop.  Shortly after, Rhianna joined her, stepping off the ground until she felt the pull from the portal.

With all the DeAngelo family floating in the air, they heard a whimper from the other side of the fence and watched as the neighbor’s dog fled to the door of its house, scratching desperately to get inside.

“Alright then,” Michael said.  “Not our Loki.”

“Unless it’s a trick,” Rhianna said, arching her eyebrow.

Before they could ponder it much more, they could hear the sounds of change above them.  Luna looked up, her eyes growing wide as she grew fearful.  The fog surrounding the portal was swept inside, and the light refracted, almost looking as though it was bending toward the stars high above.

“Don’t worry Luna,” Michael said, still trying to reach out to her.  “This happens every year.  It’s nothing to be—”

The man, high enough in the air, and floating at the center of the portal’s reach, was flung into the vortex, disappearing from everyone’s view.  Luna screamed, but was the next to be drawn across realms, her cry echoing out in a strange fleeting sound.

“All right, everyone,” Rhianna said, trying her best to soothe everyone who had yet to find transport through the portal.  “You know the drill.  See you at the North Pole!”

Peanut and Zelda, the next highest up flew up through the portal then, apathetic, and excited, respectively.  Rhianna managed to reach down and scoop Maisie closer to her, kissing her on the head just before they were thrown through the vortex as well.

Then, with the DeAngelo family all snagged from their home, the magic that pulled them away disappeared, leaving silence in its wake.

The dog next door howled, begging to be let inside.

*          *          *

Though they had taken the journey many times by then, it felt far different than any other time.  Inside the portal, it was tremendously dark, in stark contrast to the bright light that surrounded the entryway.  Michael always felt as though he were falling endlessly, but in that moment, he felt instead like he was being stretched like a rubber band that was ready to snap.

Michael crashed into a sturdy metal floor then, somehow remaining on his feet.  He felt as though his body compressed from the landing, and he sucked in a painful breath of air through gnashed teeth.

Luna’s cry still echoed as she flew through the tunnel, and Michael looked up to try and see if he could see her.  The surroundings, he realized, were as bright as the portal’s light had been.  It looked as though he was standing in a white void.  Still, he refused to let the strange surroundings distract him.  He reached out to try and catch the pup, but when she landed in his arms, her weight threw him off balance, and he somersaulted forward, slamming onto his back, while Luna smushed down onto his chest.  Happy to have had a comfortable landing, Luna began smooching Michael’s face, the poor man groaning as he contended with his pain.

“I keep forgetting how big you got,” he said, though his speaking did nothing to convince her to stop licking his face.

As excited as she was to continue, when Michael heard the excited squeal of another of his family members, he gave Luna a light little shove, to make sure no one crashed into her.

“Wee!” Michael heard Zelda yell.

But it wasn’t Zelda who came through first.  Farther along, Peanut emerged from the light above, bouncing off of Michael’s abdomen like it was a small trampoline.  The man let loose a quick, sharp groan, and tried to catch his breath.

“That’s okay,” he struggled.  “I didn’t need that spleen.”

Just as soon as he recovered, Zelda landed on his chest, somehow finding a softer landing than the cat did.  She wagged her tail, but looked up, realizing that she was not the last one through the portal.  The second auburn-haired dog skittered from Michael’s chest, scratching him as she went along.

Maisie was there next an instant later, letting out a little sigh as she pressed her head against Michael’s chest.

“It’s okay, little one,” he said, scratching behind her neck.

But they both winced when they heard a loud slam around them, and when they dared to open their eyes and look up, they realized that Rhianna had arrived as well, setting herself in a wide stance as she landed on the metal floor.

“Phew,” she said.  “I almost killed you.”

“Thank you for not doing that,” Michael said.

Maisie slowly slinked away, closer to the other animals, who still looked about in the white void, trying to figure out what was going on.

Rhianna, meanwhile, blew out a steadying sigh as she shifted her weight off of one of her legs.  “I am definitely going to feel that later.”  She reached down and offered her hand to her husband, though she could tell he was careful in climbing to his feet.

Michael’s eyes had adjusted to the room better than anyone’s, and as he looked around, he could see the subtle shift in the white tones.  Wherever they were, it seemed they were encased in a metal box, and not outside in the cold and the snow of the North Pole.

“Were we hijacked by someone else again?” Rhianna wondered.

Maisie sniffed at the air, a look of distrust in her eyes.  She seemed to sulk a moment later, bowing her head and slumping her shoulders.  “Where are we?  It doesn’t smell like Christmas.”

Almost as though something had heard her words, beeps and chirps filled the room, and columns of red and green lights appeared here and there, leaving the otherwise white room awash in festive colors.  Still, the platform they stood upon seemed cold and uninviting.

Zelda turned to look at Michael and Rhianna, panting as she tried to make sense of where they were.  “You told us we were coming to see the elves and the reindeer.  This feels suspiciously like the vet!”

Her people did not have time to give her any assurances before they heard more pointed beeping behind one of the walls.  Michael realized that there were vague seams there and noted that it was actually a well-crafted door.  He stepped in front of his family, even sweeping Luna back.

But his worries were somewhat abated when he understood that the tones the beeping played sounded out the tune of Jingle Bells.

The door slid open with a pneumatic hiss, and fog rolled into the room.  The older members of the DeAngelo family had an immediate sense of who was waiting for them on the other side, for a pair of black boots gave way to a red and white outfit.  When they spotted the fellow’s beard, they were sure they were in the company of a friend once again.

“Welcome, DeAngelos!” Santa boomed in his warm but thunderous voice.  As he stepped into the room, the automatic door shut behind him.  “I hope your travels were—” He grunted as Luna crashed into him, jumping up and down against his broad chest as she tried to reach his face to give him greeting licks.

“Hi new friend!” she said between jumps.  “You smell like cookies.  I love you so much.  Give me cookies please!”

“Luna!” Rhianna reprimanded.  It became apparent, though, that her warnings went unheard or ignored.

“Ho ho, it’s all right, little one,” Santa said, but as soon as he was able to get a good look at the newest member of the DeAngelo household, he hummed to himself.  “Or should I say big one.  My brother must have… Well, you know how he is,” he said with a laugh.

“I think all brothers have a bit of a mischievous side,” Michael said.  “But yours definitely holds the record for level of deception, and the amount of them.”

Everyone took a few moments to catch up with Santa, or to introduce them to the newest animal in the DeAngelo menagerie.  But it didn’t take long for Rhianna to realize that their visit was not quite as urgent as it was in years past.  That, together with the strange room they arrived in, as well as the appearance of Santa’s suit, had her questioning things.

Santa wore the usual colors, but his suit seemed sleeker, and more modern, with some embellishments on the boots and gloves, which made them seem to be attached to the suit—one piece instead of many.

“Santa?” Rhianna asked, looking around again at their surroundings.  “Where are we?”

Though his brother was known for mischief, Santa wore a visage that showed that it possibly ran in the family, the very spirit of Christmas displaying a smirk.  “Why, you’re in my workshop, of course.  One of them, that is, and not any of the ones you’re used to.  But why don’t I show you so that you better understand?”

He didn’t wait to hear if anyone had any objections, and he turned to exit the room.  That time, the door opened on its own, without any holiday tunes necessary in order to activate.  Santa led the DeAngelo family down the long corridor, still retaining a sort of pristine, neutral color, although it wasn’t as light as the room that they had arrived in.

Maisie sniffed at the air again, and Zelda noticed it and joined in.  Even the humans visiting could tell that the atmosphere felt different.  The air felt odd and artificial, like the scent on an airplane after it pressurized.  Everything around them seemed odd as well, for it was silent beyond the sound of their footsteps and the odd beeps and chirps here and there.

The corridor terminated at another door, and Santa reached forth toward the wall beside it.  A panel popped open, revealing a keypad, and as Father Christmas set his fingers to work enacting the code, Michael and Rhianna recognized it playing the tune of Deck the Halls.

Just as before, the door opened with a hiss, but that one didn’t spill any fog into the room.

“We had to ensure that when you arrived, we didn’t detect any dangerous foreign objects on you.  Even the smallest things could have catastrophic results here at this station,” Santa said.  “Luckily, you passed the tests, and are free to move about the whole facility, although I don’t imagine we’ll be spending a long time here.”

As the door opened fully, Michael and Rhianna sorely wished they were.  Inside the building was a bustling workshop, just as Santa had said.  Similar in appearance to the ones they had seen at the North Pole whenever they visited, it had a sleeker, shinier appearance.  A blend of science intersected with the typical Christmas magic, elves and gnomes looking up from their tables to ponder glittering, glowing schematics that hovered in the air above their workstations.

“Now, this is a more…remote base of operations, but it serves us just as well,” Santa said as he led the family through the workshop.  “You see, this gives us the perfect means to verify that nothing is wrong with any of our stops, and that very little can interfere with us.  Both my sleigh and my reindeer are outfitted with technology that allows them—and me—to travel through space and time.  Can you imagine how challenging and inconvenient it would be getting around the worlds if I could only travel within the planet’s atmosphere?”

Michael and Rhianna paused, and their furry animals stopped behind them.

“Wait a minute,” Rhianna said.  “What are you saying?”

Santa clapped his gloved hands together and gestured toward the far wall of the building.  Whether it was because of some Christmas magic that he had at the ready, or if one of his workers had quick, discreet access to a button somewhere, the wall there rose.  It wasn’t as quick as the pneumatic doors they had seen thus far, instead opening slowly, like an old garage door.

Because of that slow reveal, the family was able to see things in a bit more of a grand fashion.  They noticed what looked like a snow-white landscape at first, but they soon realized that it was an uneven grey.  And the sky was completely unmarred by any sort of clouds or light pollution, with stars twinkling in the distance.  But as the door rose higher, they realized the truth of the special workshop they stood within.  A bright blue sphere glowed in the night, far, far away.

“We’re on the moon?” Rhianna and Michael said in unison.

*          *          *

They sat at a table in another room, looking out the long window that had been fashioned in the room, still gazing out at the planet before them every few moments.  Santa had explained that it was Tellest, not Earth, but Michael pointed out that it was not that simple.

“Of course,” Santa had said.  “It’s not necessarily about where you are, but when you are.  That’s what I’d like to task you with this year, in fact.”

“Well, we’re always excited to help to save Christmas,” Rhianna insisted.

“That is a wonderful sentiment, dear,” Santa said.  “But it’s a little bigger than that.  If you’re successful in tonight’s mission, you’ll do more than save Christmas.  You’ll save the world—perhaps twice.”

“Oh, is that all?” Michael said, blowing out an anxious sigh.

“This workshop is equipped with an intergalactic scanner, which has picked up a strange signal that we cannot quite explain.  Something has been coming this way, fast, and it looks like it may be on an intercept course for Tellest.  But,” he said, raising a finger, “it also somehow seems to be in a sort of time flux.  We’ve caught it in the same trajectory during your time as well, and it seems to be threatening Earth as well.  As best we can tell it originates here, in this time, which is why we’ve brought you here, instead of coming to visit you.”

“Wait, what is this?” Rhianna asked.  “Are you asking us to stop an asteroid from destroying the planet?”

“No, it’s not quite that bad,” Santa said.  “It’s merely a small comet.”

“Ahh, much more our speed, and worthy of our expertise,” Michael joked.

“So, what do you need us to do?” Rhianna asked.

“Are we helping you and the reindeer catch it in your bag of toys?” Zelda wondered.

Santa let fly one of his big belly laughs but shook his head.  “No, my friends, I have to prepare for tomorrow evening’s deliveries, so this mission will fall to you.  I simply need you to track the object, and to divert it if we are able to determine it will, in fact, hit Tellest or Earth if it is left to its current trajectory.”

He slapped his legs then and rose from his seat.  “Well, we could sit here for a good long while talking about it, but then our window will have closed, and we would have missed the comet.  So, let’s head into this next room and make sure you’re ready to go before I leave.”

The DeAngelo family followed Santa into an adjacent room, where they spotted a few pristine white suits hanging from a bar, as well as a strange vehicle that looked like a cross between a UFO and a space rover.

“What’s all this?” Rhianna wondered.

“Well, we had to prepare you for your journey a bit differently this year,” Santa said.  “You’ll have to stay warm, yes, but this year, ensuring you could all breathe in the cold vacuum of space was our first priority.”

“Yeah, that’s for thinking of us,” Peanut snarked.

“Let’s start with the three little ones,” Santa said, arching his eyebrow.  “The three of them will share the rover, which will help them get around as they follow you.  We didn’t expect Luna to keep growing, so we made some adjustments, as I don’t believe she’ll fit in the rover with the others.  She’s had a special space suit made, just for her.

“And as for you two lovebirds,” he said, pointing to Michael and Rhianna, “You two also each have a suit, and you’ll see that there are some special attachments.”  He walked over to the suits, and spun one of them around, revealing the red sack that was attached to the back.

“It looks like one of your toy sacks!” Zelda said.

“It uses much of the same technology,” Santa said with a laugh.  “But instead of carrying toys, they have an endless amount of oxygen.  So long as you don’t get separated from it, you’d be able to survive until the sun blinks out of existence.”

Michael’s eyes went wide as his brow furrowed.  He lifted a finger in question.  “Uh, do you expect that to happen any time soon?”

“Not in your lifetimes, hopefully!”

Santa urged his guests to prepare then, and Michael, Rhianna and Luna donned their space suits—though they hadn’t quite put on their bulbous, round helmets.  The rover for the smaller animals opened up as well, the top sliding back and down, receding into a section of the vehicle that had been left for just such a reason.  A ramp appeared then as well, sliding down from the main unit, ensuring that none of the animals had to make any awkward jumps.  Maisie waited until Zelda and Peanut climbed into position, and then she followed in their footsteps.  She sat down along the right side of the machine, looking up at Santa with moisture in her eyes.

“What’s wrong, little one?” the jolly fellow asked.

Maisie fought off an excessive sniffle.  “It’s just that…we always have a feast, and it doesn’t seem like we’re going to have one this year.”

Santa tousled her fur behind her ears and offered up a hearty laugh.  “Fear not, Maisie.  Before the end of all this, we’ll be celebrating your success, and we’ll have plenty of delicious food to fill our bellies.”

“Yay!” she said, sitting a bit steadier then.  “You heard him.  Let’s get on with the mission!”

Santa pulled Michael and Rhianna off to the side a bit, pointing out the window.  Luna, not to be excluded from the conversation, jumped up and leaned against the window as well, though in her suit as she was, her paws were covered, almost giving them the appearance of little hooves.

“Just past that crater, we’ve got a vehicle that will take all of you across the galaxy as quick as you like.  It’ll look very similar to my sleigh, in fact.

“Ooh, does it have reindeer?” Zelda asked from the rover.

“Well, not exactly,” Santa said.  “I know you like to see Svetlana every year, but this mission called for something a little quicker, and I didn’t think my team of reindeer would be up for the task.  You’ll understand when you see it.”  He tapped both of the human guests on their backs then and urged them toward another door.  “Now, you’ll be in touch with some of my workers who will ensure you know how to operate the sleigh, and that you don’t get yourself into any trouble.  Are you ready?”

“Not one bit,” Michael said.  “But that’s never stopped us before.”

“That’s the spirit,” Santa said with a laugh.

As the six members of the DeAngelo family moved toward the door to another corridor—three walking while another three sat atop the strange, walking rover—they heard a bit of commotion in the adjacent room where Santa’s helpers were stationed.

The pneumatic door popped open, and Father Christmas passed a worried glance in that direction.  “What is it?” he asked one of his elves.  “Is there some sort of emergency?”

Brushing herself off, the elf stood a little taller, going rigid once she realized all eyes were on her.  “It’s, uh…it’s not that, sir.  We just heard the little one say that she was hungry and wanted to make sure none of them left on an empty stomach.”  She presented a few treats to the family—some sort of jerky for the dogs, and a non-descript plastic tube for Peanut.

“What do you expect me to do with that?” the cat asked.

The elf placed it in the rover, smiling at the finnicky feline.  “It’s liquid fiskeblugen.  It’s safer and cleaner to travel with.”

Peanut’s eyes went wide with anticipation, and she froze, unable to look at the treat that had just been delivered to her.  The elf chuckled and scratched the cat’s ears before taking her leave once more.

Zelda leaned over.  “You’re not going to cry, are you?”

“Silence!” Peanut grumbled.  “What I do with my face is none of your business.”

Zelda snapped straight again, sitting quietly before she started to chew at her piece of jerky.

Peanut wasn’t left to her own devices for long, as Luna stepped in front of the rover and sniffed at the fiskeblugen tube.

“You’re gonna share, right?” Luna said.  “Best friend?”

Staring at the dog with what looked like a cross between grumpiness and disgust, she pushed herself up on her front paws.  “You have good taste, and I knew I liked you for a reason.”  She paused then, letting the sound of her compliment wash over the big dog.  “But no,” she insisted a moment later.

Luna grumbled and turned away, heading back to the other members of her family.

“All right,” Santa said.  “Let’s try not to have any further distractions before this unidentified object hurtles toward our planet.

He walked to the other door in the room, prompting another keypad to display.  Oh Christmas Tree seemed to sound as he pushed the buttons on that pad, and the pneumatic door there opened with a hiss.

“Once you head into this corridor, the door will shut behind you, and the atmospheric unit will pressurize the room,” Santa said.  “You’ll hear a bit of a loud noise, but it should be over quickly, and then the other door will open.  Remember, all you need to do is head up over that ridge, where your ride will be waiting for you.”

“That shouldn’t be too tough,” Rhianna said.

Michael looked at her and arched an eyebrow.  “Says the lady who still has to say ‘car-side’ and ‘kitchen-side’ instead of ‘right’ and ‘left’.”

She stuck out her tongue at her husband.  “It’s one of my many wonderful quirks!”

A hearty laugh erupted from Santa, who used it almost as a way to silence his guests then.  “All right, you can battle each other once you have your helmets on.  And don’t forget to make sure they’re snug.  Ah, come here Luna, I’ll help you while they prepare their suits.”

“Thanks Santa!” the excitable young pup said.

After a few more moments, everyone was ready.  The glass top of the rover closed, ensuring the smaller animals were safe on their travels, and they were slowly on their way.

The door closed behind them, and from within their glass bubbles, it resounded with a bit of a deeper sound.  Each of the family members in suits turned to regard the closed door, but before they could give it much thought, the atmospheric regulator activated as well.  They could feel the pressure change in the room, the very gravity feeling like it had escaped into the rest of the workshop.  Then, when the opposite door opened, they knew their latest adventure had begun.  All the air was sucked out of the room, and they felt a bit of a pull toward the grey rock outside.

Michael led the way, realizing at once how much slower his gait had become.  “Well, this wasn’t how I expected to spend the day before Christmas Eve, but I’ll take it!”  He turned around—much slower than he planned—and lifted his hands.  “As long as we stop the planet from being destroyed, that is.”

When he arrived outside, he realized how grand and open the environment was.  Without a tree in sight, the only thing present were the great stone dunes, and the craters that gave the moon an eerie and strange appearance.

“Hey, I don’t have to worry about my leg since I’m not walking,” Rhianna said with a chuckle.  “And I there’s nothing to bump into either.”

“Give it time,” Michael teased.  “You’ll find something.  And even if you were someone who turned before you started walking in another direction, you wouldn’t be patient enough for how slow we turn here.”

“What do we always say?” Rhianna asked.

Michael smiled as he laboriously turned toward his family again.  “We don’t like the truth in this house.”  While he was turned around, he saw the slow, methodical way that their largest dog walked in her suit, and he pointed at her.

“This is probably the only place we’ll ever be where she’s weightless,” Rhianna said.  She whistled then, drawing Luna’s attention away from her paws, and to the spot a few feet away, where Rhianna kicked a moon rock.  Rhianna was absolutely spot on with her assumption that Luna would attempt to fetch.

Despite the lack of gravity, Luna moved quickly, and caught up with the floating rock, opening her mouth as she drew near.  Of course, it merely bounced off of her large round helmet, reporting with a loud thunk.

“I meant to do that!” the pup insisted.

While she had moved quite far from Santa’s moon base, the three animals in the rover had barely made it a few feet.  The vehicle they operated moved forward in awkward little hops, tilting this way and that.  Zelda and Peanut grumbled at each other, arguing about who should pilot the vehicle.  The cat claimed that seniority afforded her the right to move the rover, while Zelda scoffed.  “You’re too old to drive.”

Peanut’s eyes grew wide, and she slowly brought up her hand to expose her claws.  Zelda’s muzzle wrinkled as she took an uncharacteristic stand for herself.

As the two older animals bickered, Maisie lowered her head, and cleared her throat.  “Um, excuse me,” she said, but her timid voice was drowned out by the arguing between the other two.  Maisie pointed at a big button in the center of the craft, with the word “automatic” written above it.  “Hey!” she cried then.

As Zelda and Peanut grew quiet, Maisie lunged forward, and smacked the button.  The rover seemed to instantly stabilize, gently drifting along then.  It seemed to follow the humans as they made their way, and Maisie sat back, smiling at her success.

After having a bit more fun in the lower gravity of the moon, Michael and Rhianna ushered the rest of the family toward the hill in the distance.

Before they had even reached the bottom of that hill, a nasal voice seemed to whisper across the landscape.

“DeAngelo family, do you copy?  Over.”

Everyone looked at one another, trying to get a sense of where the sound had come from, although Luna froze, except to tilt her head in confusion.  When she heard a bit of static then, she jumped into the air, trying to spin about and catch her tail, as though the sound had come from her own behind.

“Uh, who is this?” Michael asked.  When enough time had passed, he hummed to himself.  “Do you need me to say ‘over’?”

After another crackle of static, they heard the voice again.  “This is Mervius.  I’m one of Santa’s elves.  I’m going to be on your communicators, helping you to navigate.  Now listen, the celestial object isn’t in our vicinity yet, but it’s moving fast.  You’ve got to get to the sleigh.”

“You heard him!” Rhianna said.  “Double time!”

“Well, we’re at like half time right now,” Michael said.  “Strive for normal, everyone.”

While the two humans and Luna half ran and half swam through the weightlessness of the moon’s gravity, the rover seemed to be moving about with considerably more ease.  The rover climbed the hill with ease, surmounting the ridge quicker than the others could.

“Ooh, I see the sleigh!” Zelda said.  “Come on slowpokes!”

“Easy for you to say,” Luna grumbled, still struggling to climb the hill.  “Your little car is doing all the work.”

“You’re just mad you can’t fit in it,” Maisie teased, giggling at the thought.

Not to be dismayed, Luna pushed, showing her tenacity and determination.  She hoisted herself over the ridge, flying up into the air, and coming to a landing just beside the rover.

“Eek!” Zelda cried out.

Peanut sighed then, bowing her head.  “Why did I have to be stuck with you,” she grumbled.  “And in a vehicle named after a dog, to add insult to injury.”

Michael and Rhianna were a bit behind everyone else then, but they finally drew near to the sleigh as well, noting how modern and sleek it looked.  A festive green paint job could be seen, thanks to the atmospheric light coming from Santa’s workshop, and they could also see that it had been designed for an aerodynamic ride, the front honed into a point.  Most things had been planned to account for the members of the DeAngelo family, with a small, round groove in the sleigh’s back area—a perfect fit for the rover, they realized.  In the front seat, there were two velvety ribbons fashioned there, looking like seatbelts of some sort.

“Uh, Mervius?” Rhianna asked, fighting to remember his name.  “Are these ribbons here up to code?  They seem a little unsafe if we’re chasing after an asteroid hurtling through space.”

Static crackled for a moment before they heard the elf’s voice again.  “Well of course,” Mervius said.  “They’re not really ribbons.  They’re made from the finest material that we give to the elven warriors for armor, almost the same material as your oxygen sacks.”  Static fizzed for a moment, but they could hear his nasal tone come through again.  “By the way, when we realized how big Luna was getting, we crafted another one of them into the seat.  You’ll see it at about the halfway mark, and you can attach it to her spacesuit.”

Rhianna was able to locate the attachment after a few moments, and she clipped it against a small metal hoop on the chest of Luna’s suit.

“DeAngelos,” they heard in their helmets again.  “You’re going to want to move soon.  I just heard a bloop.”

“Ooh, what’s a bloop?” Luna asked.  “Is it tasty?”

Mervius must have spoken before hitting the button on his end, because they heard his response already in mid-sentence.  “…on the radar every few moments.  Whatever it is, it’ll be passing you soon if you don’t hurry.”

Michael grumbled, quickening his pace.  “You know, everything here feels like it takes longer.”

He and Rhianna found more of the ribbon-like fabric in the back of the sleigh, and they worked to cross it over top of the rover.  There were some leftover ribbons back there as well, and they tied them over Luna, too, the large pup almost looking like a Christmas present herself then.

“We don’t want you jumping up in excitement and flying off into space,” Rhianna said with a laugh.  But as the words resonated in her helmet, she realized there might have been some truth to the statement, and she pulled the knots a little tighter on Luna’s ribbons.

Finally, Michael and Rhianna hopped into the front seat, grabbing hold of the strands of ribbons where they could, and tying them around themselves.

“Are you almost ready?” Mervius asked.  “I still need to explain how to fly the sleigh.”

“We’re getting there, Merv,” Michael said, as he and Rhianna tied the remainders of their ribbons off into bows in their laps.  “Alright, I’ve got the reins.  What do we do to get this ship into orbit?”

“Ooh, I hope I don’t get motion sick in space,” Rhianna muttered.  “I should have asked for some Dramamine as an early Christmas present.”

The static hissed for a time, and then the family heard some papers rustling in the background.  “All right, so, the steering should be the same as any other sleigh…”

“Mervius?  Buddy?” Michael called out.  “Are you learning this stuff at the same time we are?”

“Well, I didn’t build the thing!” the elf said.  “I’m just communications.  I’m communicating with you how to use it!”  He cleared his throat then, and settled down, just a bloop sounding in the background of wherever he was as he prepared to continue.  “Moving forward and slowing down should be the same, too.  You’ll snap the reins to get going, and you’ll give them a tug to come to a halt.”

The sound of whatever manual he was reading from was heard again then, prompting Michael and Rhianna to look at each other with a bit of concern.

“There are also three buttons to be aware of.  Do you see them?  They should be blue, yellow, and black.”

“They’re here,” Rhianna said.

“Okay, that’s good,” Mervius said.  “So the bright blue button is…your bash button.  You’ll use that to collide with the object.”

“Uh, did you say collide?” Rhianna asked in astonishment then.  “Like, on purpose?  I knew we were supposed to divert the object, but Santa did mention this.”

“It’s fine,” Mervius said.  “Don’t worry.  All the simulations showed a ninety-nine percent success rate.”

For a moment, there was silence from Michael and Rhianna, until Michael brought his finger up as though to rest it on his chin, only for it to bounce off of the round helmet there.

“Hey Mervius?  What happened in the other one percent of the simulations?”

There was only silence from the other side of the communications system, except for the sound of a bloop on the radar, which came few and far between.

“Moving on,” Mervius said, finally.  “You’ll see a yellow button, too.  That will activate a tractor beam, which you can use to haul whatever the object is back to the workshop.  Now this is imperative: don’t use the tractor beam on the object while it’s racing through space.  You’ll tear the sleigh to pieces.”

“Shouldn’t these buttons have come with warnings, or glass casing or something?” Rhianna asked her husband.

“And then we have the black button…” the elf said.

“Oh no,” Luna said, peering up over the seat.  “What does the black button do?”

Before anyone could say anything further, those in the sleigh could hear the bloops a little more rapidly then.  They heard Mervius gasp then as well.

“It’s here!” the elf cried.  “You need to get moving now, DeAngelo family!”

Luna began shouting then, and they realized by the intonation that it would have appeared to be her strange howls if it had been any other time than Christmas.

“Look.  There.  It is!” she cried, and the family looked to their right, to see the celestial object blazing across the black velvet canvas of space.  It looked like a sphere that burned blue as it passed.  “Get after it!” Luna cried.  “Fetch!”

Michael leaned on the seat and shouted.  “All right everyone, hold on!”  He snapped the reins, the magical leather straps snapping against the front of the sleigh.

At once, the enchanted vehicle lifted from the ground, hovering and rumbling.  They could hear a mechanical noise report from beneath, and then they heard the deep thrum of some sort of engine.  Just as they had seen with the projectile soaring across space, blue flames appeared behind the sleigh, launching them forward.

As they moved, a new celestial being seemed to form, as though they were collecting stars in their race forth.  An immense reindeer with mighty antlers appeared before the sleigh, a sort of living constellation, and it pulled them forward.

“Oh, Zelda’s going to be upset if she doesn’t get to see this at some point,” Rhianna said.

Though there were noises all about them, the family could just hear the sound of the communicator static.

“You’re on your way,” Mervius said.  “And it looks like you’ve met your hyper speed assistant, Dasher.  Are you ready to see how fast the sleigh can go?”

“No,” Rhianna said.

“Yes!” Michael challenged, unable to rein in his own excitement.

“All right!” Mervius shouted.  “Preparing for a reindeer rush!”

The family heard a klaxon reporting from wherever Mervius was stationed, but they could see that it affected them across whatever distance, as Dasher, the celestial reindeer reared up, and then lunged forward, jolting them forward with a speed that rivaled the pull of the portals that brought them to Tellest every year.

They followed in the object’s wake, but they moved too quickly to be able to identify what it was.  To Rhianna’s relief, none of the scatterings of space particles or other debris damaged their sleigh.  It was as though Dasher created an invisible forcefield that surrounded them.  Iridescent flashes of light could be seen every now and then as it protected them, making it feel as though they were in a bubble caught in a raging tide.

“Can you read me?” Mervius asked then, his voice cutting in and out.  “You’re going to have to go faster so that you can bash—er divert it away from the planet.  You don’t have much time now!”

Michael growled and snapped the reins again, worrying that he wouldn’t be able to make the artificial reindeer move any faster.  But it seemed that the ethereal creature noted his sense of urgency, for a moment later, they sped up.  The constellation’s legs moved rapidly, as though it were comprised of shooting stars.  Even a strange, deer-like grunt resounded as it worked hard at catching up to the object.

Michael was able to bring the sleigh closer toward the strange astrological phenomenon, and he looked to his wife for support.

“Are you ready Rhianna?” he shouted.  “When I say ‘now’, I’m going to need you to hit the blue button.”

His wife grew nervous, hovering her hand over the blue button to ready herself.

As they drew nearer, they realized just how large the ball of earth was.  It seemed to grow larger and larger, subverting their expectations with every foot they cut across.

Giving one last fierce snap of the reins, Michael was able to pull the sleigh up alongside the object.

“Now!” he cried.

Rhianna hit the button, and at once, the celestial reindeer reacted.  It bowed its head, and turned to the side, driving forth with its massive rack of antlers.  With one mighty hit, it struck the ball of rock, sending it flying off course.  It spiraled out of control, drifting off into space.

“Come on,” Rhianna said, pointing to the dislodged object.  “We have to go after it.  Santa no doubt wants to know what we’ve discovered.”

Nodding in agreement, Michael pulled the reins to the side, and then gave them a mighty shake again, urging Dasher onward.  At once, they gave chase.

Behind the front seat, Luna’s excessive panting could be heard, even through the thick glass of their space suits.  When Michael and Rhianna turned, they saw that a bit of fog presented across the glass helmet on Luna’s suit.  She pushed up against the seat, putting her helmet into place, before she licked a long line of slobber onto the glass, granting her sight again.

“That was so much fun!” she yelled to the rest of her family.

Rhianna reached back and tried to scratch the dog’s head but realized as her hand bounced off of the helmet that she would not be able to do much.  She moved it farther back then, scratching Luna’s spine through the spacesuit.

“Are you okay back there?” she asked as she leaned over the seat and spotted the three smaller animals in their bubble along the floor.

Zelda and Maisie said nothing, pressed up against the persnickety puss, whose eyes narrowed in annoyance.

“Mervius,” she said, a cold air seeming to run about the sleigh.

“Uh… Yes?” he asked in reply.

“You,” she said, sounding wicked despite saying little.  “You almost made me lose my…fiskablugen!”  She yelled loud enough for feedback from the headsets to come through and cause a rise of static.

Mervius grumbled then.  “Yeah, sorry about that,” he said.  “I didn’t think that Dasher would be so…destructive.  I’m sorry, Peanut.  It was all a mistake, I assure you.”

“It’s all right,” Michael said.  “It’s just that her and the other animals expected a preliminary feast ahead of time.  But Santa did say that we would be reporting back to him and would be getting some grub then.”

“A feast made for a king,” the elf said.  “But that largely depends on whether or not you figure out what happened to that object.  You’ve saved the planet, and we’re incredibly grateful for that, but there’s still more work to be done!”

“Alright, we’ll head after the thing,” Rhianna said.  “It’s still going pretty fast.”

“That might even be faster,” Michael mentioned.  “Did we just veer it off course, or did we give it an extra little bump?”

“Well don’t just sit there talking about it,” Mervius said.  “Get after it!”

Michael snapped the reins again, and Dasher was off.  The planet they rescued seemed to slide backward in space, and Michael and Rhianna knew that they were going impossibly fast—quicker than any human on their planet had ever gone before.

“You know,” Michael said, “if we weren’t wearing helmets right now, Luna’s jowls would be flying around like crazy.”

Rhianna giggled at the thought of it as she slowly turned about to glance at the panting pup.  “You know,” she replied.  “If we weren’t wearing helmets right now, I’m pretty sure our heads would explode.”

“That’s quite possible too,” Michael said.

As time passed, they eventually caught up with the object, and though it had been quite a while that they gave chase, reaching it seemed easier than the first time.  They realized that when they hit it, they had sent it spinning, and while it had given it a noticeable boost, it couldn’t maintain that speed for quite as long.  Still, the blue planet was but a tiny dot in the great void of space behind them, and another planet was before them.  Orange and brown, it looked a bit like it was covered in flames.

“Uh, Mervius,” Rhianna called out.  “Mervius can you still hear us even after all this way?”

“Mervius, we have a problem,” Michael said.

After a brief silence, they heard the telltale static of a communications attempt.  “What is it?”  They heard the elf’s voice come through, though indeed, it sounded somehow distant, even though his voice resonated through their helmets.

“It looks like the object is going to strike Venus!” Rhianna said.

“What?” Mervius asked.  “Well, we can’t let that happen either!  It could have dire effects on the whole solar system—the galaxy even!”

“All right, then we have to think of a plan,” Michael said.

His eyes flashed, and he tried to snap his fingers, but the suit made it difficult.

After a few more attempts, Rhianna nudged him with the back of her hand.  “Use your words.”

“Dasher seems like it has a mind of its own,” Michael explained.  “But is there a way that we can just have him do exactly what we want it to do?”

“Well, we could try and put him into manual mode,” Mervius said.  “What did you have in mind?”

“Duck his head like he’s going to swipe up with those big antlers,” Michael replied.

“What are we doing?” Rhianna asked.

“Something I used to do in my racing video games all the time,” he said.  “Let’s see if it works with celestial reindeer just as well.”

“Oh no…” Rhianna said, looking from side to side along her lap.  “I need more ribbons.”

Michael watched as Dasher moved into position, adjusting in an almost mechanical way, as though beneath the swirl of starlight and cerulean there may have been some metal rods and gears.  When he was sure the reindeer was ready, he swiped to the right with the reins, just brushing against the other object, and sending it spinning the opposite way.

That seemed to send it off course again, slowing it considerably as it wobbled its way toward the other planet.

“That helped a little,” Rhianna said, “but I think it’ll still hit the planet if we can’t stop it!”

“You said Venus, right?” Mervius asked.  “If it gets too far into the atmosphere, even if you did slow it enough where it didn’t split the planet in two, you’d never be able to recover it.  Venus will melt you from inside your suits!”

“Then we need to figure out something else,” Michael said.  “What about the yellow button?”

“The tractor beam?” Rhianna asked, her voice dripping with incredulity.

“Yeah, if we use the tractor beam while moving at the same speed as the object, and then gradually slow down, we should be able to stop it before it moves into orbit.”

“That’ll never work!” Rhianna cried.  “The sleigh will be torn to pieces.”

“It will work,” Michael insisted.  “If you just believe.”

She stared at him, clenching her teeth together, when a crackle of static resonated in their communication systems.

“In theory, he’s right.”

“Santa’s counting on us,” Michael said.  “Yellow button?”

Rhianna blew out a sigh that fogged up her helmet a bit.  “Yellow button,” she said with a nervous shudder.

“Yellow button!” Luna added.

Rhianna leaned forward and hit the button, and Michael’s eyes went wide.

“We’re not ready yet!” he shouted, as he hurried to snap the reins and move Dasher into position once more.  “Mervius, Dasher’s not moving!  You have to take it out of manual mode!”  Although he panicked, he could tell that the sleigh still sped up.

A golden ray of light cast out from the vehicle, just beneath the celestial reindeer’s body, and as it stretched its way toward the object, Michael snapped the reins again and again.

“We had a moment, and I thought we were saying we were ready!” Rhianna cried.

“You believed too hard!” Michael teased.  He was able to match speed with the object before the tractor beam enveloped it, but just as soon as it did, they could feel the juddering affecting their vehicle.

“Ooh, massage,” Zelda’s tiny voice said from the back of the sleigh, her voice trembling as she said it.

“Alright, hang on,” Michael said.  “Mervius, any way you can help us decelerate at an even pace?  I don’t think I’ll be able to pull back the reins in a way that will be safe.”

“On it!” the elf said.

Sure enough, they could see as their rapid pace began to diminish, Venus not quite growing across their view of space as much as it had.

“We’re going to make it!” Rhianna cried out with glee.

While the object continued to spin, its forward momentum was nearly gone.  They had grown close enough to Venus that they could feel its warmth through their spacesuits, and Michael even had a few blades of sweat visible on his brow from the reflection of the sunlight on the planet.

“Good thing we didn’t let it get any farther,” he said.  “So, what have we got there?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Rhianna said, narrowing her eyes.  “Dasher and the tractor beam are sort of making it hard to see.  But it looks oblong, like an egg.”  She leaned out of the side of the sleigh and confirmed that it did indeed look like a large egg, though it was colored an iridescent silver and gold.

“Egg?” Mervius asked.  “Did you say egg?”

“I love eggs!” Luna cried.

“Us too!” Maisie shouted from below.  “Don’t leave us in here.  Let us eat some eggs too!”

Michael turned to his wife then and began uncinching the ribbons.  “Shall we get a closer look?”

“What?” Mervius echoed in their communications modules.  “No, you have to get back to the station.”

“We don’t take orders from other people when there are omelets on the line!” Peanut said.

“Relax Mervius,” Michael said.  “It’s a good idea for us to check this out before we bring it back to the moon.  We don’t want to cause more danger if we can identify it here.”

Though the elf didn’t say anything, the DeAngelo family could hear him sigh, a bit farther away than the communicator.

Rhianna pulled her ribbon apart then as well, but she didn’t realize as she floated up and out of the seat that Luna grabbed hold of hers with her teeth.  In only a few moments, the big dog was able to leap into the absence of gravity as well.

“Wait for us!” Zelda cried.

Michael and Rhianna drifted close to the egg, and they could feel its warmth.  Even from a few feet away, they could feel the thing beating, and they looked at each other with nervousness etched into their faces.  The egg was, after all, nearly as big as the sleigh.

It wasn’t until they heard a frightening crack that somehow resonated throughout the sound of space that they looked down, and realized that their youngest, largest dog was present.

“Luna, what are you doing there?” Rhianna asked.

The pup didn’t respond as she floated toward the underside of the egg.  She tilted her head, her nose twitching as though she could smell something through the round helmet she wore.

Her eyes widened though as the egg began to open.

A silver and gold head poked out of the bottom of the egg.  Sleepy eyes spotted the auburn-furred pup and looked at her from an inverted position.  Seeing the first leaving thing, the creature cooed, and opened its eyes further in excitement, beautiful emerald orbs landing on Luna’s excited face.

Michael and Rhianna drifted down then as well, realizing at once that the creature from the egg wasn’t some unspeakable or altogether unfamiliar alien.

It was a baby dragon.

That baby dragon spotted the two humans and let fly a little gasp that barely resonated through the vacuum of space.  It floated from the egg, and once its body had cleared it, the shells collapsed on themselves, bursting out of existence altogether.  The dragon lunged forward with a clawed hand, but it was its long tail that wrapped around Luna, pulling each closer to one another.  With an almost draconic smile, it placed its head on the top of the dog’s helmet and closed its eyes.

Everything seemed to freeze in time then.  In a flicker of light, the dragon and Luna appeared to shrink into nothingness, and were immediately gone from sight.

Though they floated in the void of space, Michael and Rhianna felt as though at any moment their legs would shudder, and they would somehow fall further.

“Luna!” Rhianna finally found the will to cry out.  “What’s happened to her?  Where is she?”

For another moment, everything seemed to stay frozen, but then they heard the static preceding Mervius’s communications.

“Don’t worry, I’m still reading her signal,” the elf said.  “And you’re not going to believe this: they’re on Tellest!”

Michael and Rhianna didn’t say anything to each other as they hurried to swim back through space toward the sleigh.

Finally, feeling like it was taking too long to arrive there, Michael broke the silence.

“We should have never got out of the sleigh,” he said.  “Mervius, why didn’t you try to stop us?”

“What?” the elf demanded.

They could tell that he was about to go on a tirade, but static reported, and they realized he must have let go of the button on his end.

The humans arrived back at the sleigh and noted the worried looks on the faces of the animals still stuck in the rover.

“Did something happen?” Maisie asked, her voice sounding quiet and pitiful.  “Something bad?”

Rhianna’s face contorted from a look of despair into one of stoic hope.  “No, little one,” she said.  “We’re just going on a little detour.  Just one more stop on our adventure.”  She looked to her husband then, who could see her swallow away the emotion building up in her throat even from within her space suit.

Michael climbed into the sleigh and began to tie the ribbons around his waist again.

“Mervius,” he said, a new weariness in his voice, “when we get going, I want you to help me get Dasher up to speed.  I want to head back to Tellest faster than we came out here.”

“Just make sure you’re safe,” the elf said.  “I’ll handle everything else.”

A few moments later, Michael helped to pull Rhianna into her seat, before slowly turning the vessel around.  Tellest was so far away then that they could barely see it.  He looked to his wife again, who was so distracted by her worries that she didn’t begin to fasten her ribbons together again.  He rubbed her leg and handed her the strand that was closest to him.

“Come on,” he said.  “We’ll find her.  But I don’t want to find her and then have to come back out here to find you because you went for your own little flight.”

Rhianna blew out a sigh and set to work, tying the ribbon with her fumbling hands.

With a little flick of the reins, Michael began moving the sleigh forward, but once he was certain his wife was cinched in, he snapped them a little harder.

“Mervius, get us to Tellest.”

“All right.  Hold on.”

The sleigh burst ahead, hard and quick enough that Michael and Rhianna had to fight against potential whiplash.  But whatever magic protected the sleigh seemed to give them enough pushback on their suits to keep them from any danger.

With Mervius pushing the sleigh to its limits, and the family lost in thoughts of worry, they seemed to blink their eyes once before arriving before the planet, and it looked as though Dasher skidded to a stop just before they entered Tellest’s atmosphere.

“We’re here,” Mervius said.  “There’s something strange I have to tell you about, by the way.  The signal has remained on Tellest since Luna and the dragon disappeared, but it’s been moving around on the planet.  And you’re not going to believe this, but it looks like they’re in the North Pole region.”

“Can we land the sleigh on the planet, Mervius?” Rhianna asked.

“Yes, of course,” the elf said.  “I’ll bring you in to where the signal last reported.  Just sit back and relax.”

Michael turned to look at the animals who were stuck in the rover, each of them looking as melancholy as the either.  “It’s going to be okay,” he said.  “We’ll find her.”

Before long, they entered the atmosphere of the planet, and they could see the frosted plains of the north pole between the clouds that swirled above it.  Dasher looked even more majestic against the fields of white, and when the family landed upon the ground in a clearing beside some trees, they felt as though it was the celestial reindeer’s hooves that thumped against the ground first.  The sleigh slid to a stop, and Michael and Rhianna untied their ribbons.

“All right, before you go anywhere, give me a minute to see if I can make some adjustments to your sleigh,” Mervius said.  The family could hear beeps and chirps in the background, but finally the elf returned.  “I just made some changes to the frequency array.  If I’m right, it should stop the dragon from being able to teleport again in the vicinity of the sleigh.”

“Good thinking,” Rhianna said.  “We can’t be flying all over the galaxy.”

Michael took off his helmet then, breathing in the fresh, crisp air of the frozen north.  He set it on the seat, and then climbed out of the sleigh, walking around to the back of the vessel to release the trio of animals from the rover.

“Hurry up,” Maisie pleaded.  “My leg popped out somewhere in space and I need someone to put it back in!”

“And Peanut’s threatening to eat her fiskeblugen, and I’m too young to die!” Zelda cried.

As Michael pulled the last remaining ribbons off of the rover, the glass top descended into the rest of the smaller vehicle, and the animals stretched and climbed from their seats.

Michael bent low, and massaged Maisie’s leg, and the pitiful little pup gave a look of appreciation as she stepped up from the rover.  Zelda and Peanut already ran about, sniffing at the air as though they were somewhat familiar with where they were.

“Let’s get going, everyone,” Michael said.  “We don’t want to…”

His words trailed off, for he could see from afar that Rhianna wore a look of disdain as she looked upon the ground in the trees beyond the clearing.  Michael ran to her so quickly that he didn’t even realize he had started moving.  But when he arrived there, he felt his legs buckle, and it was only his desire to support her that kept him standing tall.

There, on the ground, was Luna’s space suit, but no sign of the newest member of the DeAngelo family member was present.  Her helmet was cracked, and the oxygen sack was in tatters.

“The dragon,” Rhianna whispered, a tear falling from her eye, “it was too strong for her.”  Though the suit kept the cold at bay, the teardrop froze on her face.

Zelda and Maisie arrived there as well then, sniffing at the discarded space suit in an attempt to cover up the sound of their sniffling.  But when they looked up at Rhianna, it was clear they couldn’t hide the moisture on the rims of their eyes.

“I’m going to miss all the times she would ask me to play, even when I was too sleepy to want to,” Zelda lamented.

“She did some annoying things,” Maisie said then.  “But they were annoying things that we loved about her.  I don’t want to not have her staring at me when I’m eating my food or have to worry not having a snuggle buddy.”

“Are you all right, Peanut?” Zelda asked.  “Are you going to miss anything about Luna?”

“No,” the cat said.  Though her words seemed cold, she looked at them with a furrowed brow before looking farther into the trees.  “They’re right over there.”

Sure enough, the rest of the family could hear growling, and the unfamiliar sounds of the baby dragon.  They rushed to stand next to Peanut, wondering if there was a battle unfolding, and if Luna was fighting for her life.

But as they spotted the ginger dog, they saw that it was anything but a fight brewing between the two.  The baby dragon was on its back, playfully kicking at Luna, who grumbled and growled in jest, jumping on the creature’s scaled belly a few times before running away from it and circling it in the snow.

Her family stepped forward, and the crunch of the icy snow beneath them echoed out in the area.  The dragon cooed and rolled to its side, but Luna perked up at once, her ears drawing back and her eyes widening.

When she spotted all her favorite people, her mouth popped open, as close to a canine smile as anyone had ever seen.  She sprang forward, bounding across the snow without any delay.  Michael crouched low, hoping for a warm embrace, but she had already leaped into the air.  She crashed into him, knocking him to the ground, began bathing his face with kisses.  Rhianna was there a moment later, hugging the dog before she wrenched free and licked her as well.  When she’d had enough of that, she bounded around Zelda and Maisie, running figure eights as fast as she could, and eliciting playful cheers from her sisters.

Without missing a beat, she charged toward the dragon then, running up toward her as though she planned on knocking her down.  But at the last second, she juked to the side, and circled around her before running back to her family.  She was so distracted by her zoomies that she didn’t realize that Peanut slowly walked up to the iridescent dragon.

At that time, when Luna reached her loved ones, Michael was prepared.  He wrapped her in a firm embrace—one she couldn’t wriggle out of, despite all her attempts—and he kissed her on her bony head.

“We were so worried about you,” he said to her.

“We saw your torn oxygen sack, and thought the worst,” Rhianna added.

“Oh…that?” Luna asked, sheepishly.  “I did that.  I was nervous when I didn’t see any of you.”

“She does have a deep desire to destroy anything she comes near,” Zelda snarked, clearly a little less compassionate once she learned that her big baby sister was okay.

“And what about the helmet?” Michael asked.  “How did you get out of that and the suit?”

“We were practicing bonks,” Luna said with a smile on her face.

“I think she finally met someone with a harder head than her,” Maisie teased.

They heard cooing and chirping across the way then, and they saw that Peanut and the dragon sat beside each other then, evidently showing that Luna was not the only friend that the iridescent-scaled creature had made.

“Yes, yes, they are a bit tiresome, but they’re good people,” Peanut said.  “We go on these crazy adventures every year, and they always show how much they love us.”

“Peanut?” Rhianna asked.  “Can you understand it?”

“Of course I can,” the cat said.  “You know cats and dragons are distant cousins.  She just wanted to make sure all of us knew each other and that there weren’t any tricks at play.  And despite all her annoyances, she seems to really like the big, dumb dog.”

“Hey!” Luna said.  “I’m not dumb!  Just quirky!”

“Peanut,” Michael said, interrupting the two animals before they could get into any further mischief or arguments.  “What’s the dragon’s name?”

The dragon chirped and purred, and Peanut looked at her and nodded.

“She doesn’t have one yet—or at least, not one she knows.”

Rhianna hummed.  “Well then, we’ll have to give her one.  And I think it’s only fair that Luna is the one to pick the name.”

“Really?” Luna asked.  “That’s the best!  And I think I already know what I would call her.”

“What’s that?” Michael asked.

Luna crouched low, as though she were about to pounce on someone.  Her tail wagged from side to side, and she sprang up as she announced the name.

“Food!”

Zelda and Maisie let their heads tilt to the side, and Luna could see that the other members of her family didn’t quite have the same enthusiasm for the name as she did.

“Food isn’t exactly a name, baby girl,” Rhianna said.

“What?  But it’s my favorite!” Luna cried.  She grumbled and then looked back at the dragon, trying to see if she could get a better idea for it.

The little dragon walked a little closer to the rest of the family, the taller humans sitting down to appear less imposing.

“All right, how about this one,” Luna said.  “Stinky.”

“Stinky?” Michael asked.

“Yeah!  I couldn’t smell her when we were next to that planet that we found her at, but when we got here and I shook my helmet off, she was really, really stinky!”

“Oh honey, that’s not really a nice name for such a pretty dragon,” Rhianna said.  She held out her hand, rubbing the creature’s muzzle as it drew closer, demonstrating courage around its new friends.”

“But you’re always calling me stinky,” Luna grumbled.

“That’s because that’s us teasing you,” Michael said.  “But your real name is really pretty, don’t you think?”

“That’s right,” Rhianna said.  “Luna means moon, which is where we just were when we started this adventure.”

The dog’s eyes went a little wide with excitement then, and she tilted her head to the side.  “I’ve got it then.  I remember what Santa called her when she was flying through space.  We’ll call her Comet!”

Michael and Rhianna prepared to protest further, but when they heard the name that Luna chose, they had to admit that they liked the sound of it.

“Comet,” Rhianna said, and as the word left her lips, it seemed the dragon reacted to it, cooing as it stood up straighter.  “Oh yeah?  You’re a fan of that one?”

As she was petting the dragon along her scaled neck, a noise sounded from the sleigh.  They heard the telltale crackle of static coming through the space helmets.

Michael gasped.  “Mervius,” he said.

The man ran back to the sleigh then, while Rhianna ushered the rest slowly across the snow.

“Yes, we’re all okay, Merv,” Michael said.  “Both Luna and the dragon are safe.  Well, not exactly in one piece though—Luna’s space suit has seen better days.  I hope it didn’t cost you and the other elves an arm and a leg to make it.”

“Nothing a little Christmas magic can’t fix,” Mervius said after he heard the good news.  “But you will have to figure out some way to get everyone back to the moon.  I know Luna is a bit of a giant—is there any way you can squish her into the rover with the other animals?”

Michael hummed as he watched his family approach.  “I think we can figure something out.  But we’ve got no plan for the dragon.  Her egg is gone, so she can’t hide in there anymore.”

“It’s all right,” Mervius said.  “If she’s a space dragon from space, she’s likely got the means to survive in it.  But if she doesn’t have the egg, that means she won’t be able to travel the way she did before.  She’s likely too big for the sleigh too, but you could use the tractor beam.”

“Right,” Michael said.

“Couldn’t she just bloop us all to the moon?” Luna wondered.

“We have the sleigh,” Rhianna said, trying not to alert the dragon that her strange powers had been temporarily deactivated.  “I think we want to make sure we’re being safe, so we’ll do it this way for now.”

“Speaking of being safe,” Michael said.  “Peanut, Zelda, how would you two like to be in a special space suit?”

“Ooh, I would love that,” Zelda said, wagging her tail and spinning around in excitement.

Peanut scoffed at the pup.  “You’re far too old to be this naïve.”

“Look, we’re all going to be a little cramped, one way or another,” Michael said.  “You can either be cramped with us, or you could all cram into the rover and hope that the air doesn’t get sucked out of there with Luna in there, too.”

The cat swallowed away the discomfort in her throat.  “I’ll fly with you if you have room in your spacesuit,” she declared.

“That’s what I thought,” Michael replied.

“You’ll be flying with me, Zelda,” Rhianna said.  “It’ll be like a big snuggle.”

“I love snuggles,” Zelda said.

Though Peanut offered up more protests, once she was safely inside Michael’s suit, she purposely squished up against him, not planning on moving higher, to stick her head through the hole of the helmet, already tightened to the top of the suit.  Zelda was a little more eager to get her head as close to Rhianna’s as possible.  Though there were no means of having to stretch her limbs through the aperture there, she was able to see out through the helmet, and could not hold back her excitement when Michael and Rhianna climbed onto the sleigh, helping Maisie and Luna to settle into the rover.  Maisie only grumbled a little bit while Luna found a comfortable position, curled up next to her.

After they tied the ribbons over the rover there, Michael and Rhianna climbed up and over the lip of the front seat, a bit more difficult of a task with Tellest’s gravity present.  Once they were situated though, they took a deep breath, and Michael grabbed hold of the reins.

Dasher materialized before the sleigh again, and slowly lifted the vessel from the snow as the two humans tied their ribbons into place around their waists, cinching them into bows.

Once they were airborne, Michael looked back and saw Comet gently lifting into the air, though there did seem to be a bit of a struggle to stay aloft.

“It’s probably more difficult on a planet with an atmosphere,” Rhianna said.  “If she’s a space dragon, maybe it’s harder to fly.”

“Well, we’re going to offer her a bit of assistance,” Michael said.  He tapped the yellow button then, and the tractor beam fired, but that time it was directed behind them.  The golden glow encompassed the dragon, helping to lift her off the ground.  “There you go, Comet,” he said.  “You’ll be able to fly the whole time as we head off to the moon again.”

The dragon, finding new ease in moving about, happily glided behind the sleigh as it went higher and higher.  As they left orbit, she practiced doing flips, and barrel rolls, chirping and chittering the whole time.

“All right, Mervius,” Michael said when the only thing before them besides the black void of space was the moon.  “We’re on our way.”

“Understood.  I’ll make some more adjustments to the tractor beam, but you should be able to make it the rest of the way without much manual work.  We’ll see you in a little bit.”

“What adjustments is he talking about?” Rhianna asked.

“Watch,” Michael said with a smile.

They could hear, then, as some mechanical sounds reported below them, and the golden glow of the tractor beam expanded into more of a cloud, allowing the iridescent dragon to move about a bit more.

Rhianna smiled then as well, watching as Comet playfully experimented with more complex maneuvers, all without any worries of her drifting too far from the sleigh.

“Luna, look,” Rhianna said.

The big dog twisted about in the rover, and watched as Comet rose up over the vehicle, sending happy noises toward her new friends.

It did not take long for them to arrive back on the moon, and Michael and Rhianna were still enthralled by how easily they had travelled their little part of the galaxy.  They did not land back on the spot where they had found the sleigh but found themselves in a different tractor beam altogether—one that pulled them into a larger part of the workshop on the opposite side of the complex.

Michael’s suit bulged around the belly, and a little voice rose up from there.

“That’s it, I’ve had enough!  I am the royalty of this family, and I demand to be treated as such!”

“We’re almost there, Peanut,” Michael said.  “Once I’m sure you’ll be able to breathe, I’ll let you out.”

“I can barely breathe now!” she grumbled.

The sleigh landed with a thump, and the dragon flew into the hangar, skidding on the ground as both tractor beams disengaged.  Comet lost her footing and rolled over on her wings and thudded into the back of the vehicle.  Her head popped up over the back of the sleigh then, and Luna panted and smiled while the dragon giggled.

Ahead of the family, a pneumatic door opened with a mechanical whirr, and they saw a wiry elf with white hair appear there.

“Mervius?” Michael ventured.

“Pleased to meet you at last,” the elf said.  He tilted his head back, attempting to help slide his half-circle glasses back up his angular nose.

Michael climbed out of the sleigh and stepped across the room in his clunky space suit, but eventually extended his hand to their communications expert.  Before the gesture could be completed though, Peanut pushed with all her might, and popped the buttons on the suit, pouncing through the material and landing on the ground below.

Mervius’s eyes had gone wide, but Michael finally concluded the greeting, grabbing the elf’s hand and giving it a quick shake.  “Just another day in the DeAngelo family,” he said.

“I was told of all your exploits and hijinks,” the elf said.  “Somehow, I still was not quite prepared.  I’ll have to make sure my calculations are in better order the next time we work together.”

Rhianna popped her helmet off, and pushed Zelda back down into her suit, opening the buttons there so she could hop out too.  When Zelda was on the ground, she hurried back into the sleigh, and climbed onto the seat so that she could watch when Rhianna untied the ribbon from the rover.  Luna hopped out of the secondary vehicle when the glass dome slid away, and she clambered up and over the side of the sleigh, skittering on the floor after she jumped down.

“Stinky!” she cried when she saw the dragon.

The dragon pounced forward with a frisky attitude, but Luna hopped out of the way.  And despite the fact that the dog was only a quarter the size of the dragon, she managed to knock Comet off her feet and to her back, the beautiful creature spinning about as she chirped and cooed.

Michael and Rhianna watched while the other animals—even Peanut—drew close to the dragon and joined in on the fun as well.  Mervius came closer, standing beside the husband and wife and could not hide his excitement in sharing what he found out about Comet.

“It seems she’s a chronodragon,” he explained.  “They’re incredibly rare, and they have the ability to travel across not just great stretches of the universe, but also through time.  She’s too young to have mastered her powers just yet, so it seems she’s only able to teleport for now.  And we’ll fashion something that will make sure she always stays on our radar and doesn’t get into too much trouble.”

“She’s just a baby,” Rhianna said.  “Surely we ought to be able to help her find her way home, right?”

“Well, you’ve already done your part in the beginning of her journey,” Mervius said.  “And while I don’t doubt that you’ll see her again, I think we ought to take it from here.”

“What?” Michael said.  “But we’re the ones who found her.  Shouldn’t we be around for her?”

Mervius draped his hands on each of their shoulders.  “I know you want to aid her, but there’s a bigger problem than you would be able to help with, I’m afraid.”

“Well, what is it?” Rhianna asked.

“Her home planet doesn’t exist yet,” Mervius revealed.  “We can’t exactly get her home if we don’t know where it is—but we do know that she’s been displaced by millions of years.  Until she can master her time travel skills, I’m afraid we may be forced to wait.  But she’ll have a home here in the meantime, and you’ll be able to see her every Christmas.”

Rhianna’s eyebrows curled into a look of sadness.  “Is she going to be okay without her family?”

Michael grabbed his wife around the shoulder and pulled her in tight.  “We know firsthand that a family is whatever you make of it, as long as there is love and laughter, and we all look out for one another.”

Together, they looked at their family, the three dogs and the cat all playing with one another, and their new friend, Comet.

“Thank you for looking out for her, Merv,” Michael said.  “Something makes me feel like she is going to be a handful.”  Luna came over and nearly bowled Michael over then, jumping up and stretching, with a big smile on her face.  “I feel like we have enough experience to give our expert opinion on the matter,” Michael added.

“It seems like it,” the elf said with a laugh.  “Well then, shall we prepare for the festivities?  You’ve accomplished a great feat today, and we celebrate those with great feasts.”

“Feast!” Maisie said, skittering across the metal floor toward the elf, wagging her tail the whole way.

“Ha!” Rhianna enunciated.  “If that tail wagged any faster, you’d learn to fly too, little one!”

The rest of the family laughed at the thought.  While they all remained merry, Michael waved Mervius over to the sleigh.

“I have to know,” Michael said.  “What does the black button do?”

Mervius tilted his head, but as Michael pointed toward the interior with his chin, the elf nodded.  “Oh, that.”  He leaned in and smacked his palm against it.

Michael was ready to hop back, but instead, a door slid away from the center console of the sleigh, just below the buttons, and out popped a steaming mug of hot cocoa.  Marshmallows swirled around it, and a dome not unlike the one that covered the rover was present there.  A festive little pop went off inside the mug’s snow globe, as one of the marshmallows exploded into a sort of tasty confetti that fluttered back down to the hot chocolate.

“And then…” Mervius said, turning toward Michael again.  “Here.”  He flicked a flap on Michael’s suit, revealing a straw that could have been used to sip the hot cocoa while you were out and about in space.  “Sorry we didn’t get to explain that one.  There just wasn’t enough time to—”

“There’s always enough time for hot cocoa!” Michael said, exasperated.

Mervius leaned into the sleigh, and retrieved the beverage for Michael, handing it to him a second later.

“Thank you,” Michael said.

“All right then, to the feasting hall!” Mervius said, while Michael fumbled behind him with the straw in his suit.

Together, the DeAngelo family, and their new dragon friend followed the elf into the workshop, eager to close out their adventure with delicious food, and good discussions about their hopes for the holidays, and the year beyond.

  *        *          *

When Michael slid the door open then, he knew that everyone who entered the house did so with slightly rounder bellies than when they had last exited it.  The animals made their way in first, from eldest to youngest, and when Rhianna reached the door, she laid her head on her husband’s shoulder, failing to stifle a large yawn that fought its way past her lips.

“Why is it that we’re always so tired when we get back from our times with Santa?”

Michael chortled.  “We didn’t used to.  That’s just what happens when you get older.  And the adventures that Santa sends us on are always insane.  Insanity takes its toll.”

“Maybe that’s why I feel so worn down,” Rhianna said.  “I live with you.”

“That’s right, and that’s what keeps me young!”  He stood there staring at her, with a smile on his face for a moment, but then, by the power of suggestion or otherwise, he had to yawn then as well.

She leaned close and kissed him on the cheek, and then the pair of them followed their fuzzy babies inside.

“So, how did you like your first Tellest Christmas, Luna?” Michael asked.

Luna spun around, excitement still aglow in her eyes.  “It was the best!  I love making new friends, and it was nice to meet one who was bigger than me for a change.”

“That’s right,” Rhianna said.  “And thank you so much for being so kind and sweet and gentle with Comet.  She really needed that, and we’re so proud of you for being such a loving sweetheart.”

“And how about everybody else?” Michael asked.  “Did we all have a good time?”

“I like going on any trip that doesn’t end up at the vet,” Zelda said.

“And I like any occasion that puts me in the same general vicinity as fiskeblugen,” Peanut said.

“And what about you, Maisie?” Rhianna wondered.

She lay on the couch, her head resting on her hands.  “Well… To be honest, I felt sort of underutilized this year.  But I did get to chomp on a big wheel of cheese at Santa’s workshop, so I think it all worked out.”  By that point her head was up again, and her tail was wagging at the thought of the yummy meal in which she had partaken.

“Well, the fun’s not over yet,” Michael said.  “Luna, every year when we come back, whether it’s on Christmas Eve, or Christmas morning, Santa finds a way to sneak us some very special presents.  And it looks like he already beat us here.  Look under the tree.”

“Presents!” Luna yelled, flinging herself toward the little tree.

“No, wait!” Rhianna yelled.  “You just open your own!”

A few minutes later, all of the DeAngelo family members sat content with their Christmas presents.

Peanut sat perched on the stairs with a small tray of tablets that had been described as freeze-dried fiskeblugen—food like astronauts eat!  And it wouldn’t stink up the house as she ate them.

All three dogs received toys that were shaped like dragons, with Zelda receiving a red one, Maisie receiving a blue one, and Luna receiving one that was almost appearing to shine in silver and gold.  The two older dogs squeaked away at their toys, but Luna just cuddled up next to hers.

“That’s very cute that she’s being so protective of her toy,” Rhianna said.

“What are we thinking?” Michael asked.  “Does it last three days before she tears it apart?”

“I was thinking a very conservative two,” Rhianna said.

Michael chuckled, but then he turned his attention back to his present, a brand-new hot cocoa mug, which was filled to the brim with the steaming beverage.  On the table, he had a supply that would last them well into the winter.

Rhianna stood up then, as all the animals had cleared a path to the Christmas tree then.  She held up the gift that had been left for her, a gorgeous ornamental silver and gold dragon that was wrapped around a crystal—perfect for hanging on the Christmas tree.

“There we go,” Rhianna said.  “That’s the perfect place for it.”

As she moved to head back to the couch, she realized that she kicked another small box, that was wrapped a bit differently than the presents that Santa had sent their way.

“Is this one that you wrapped?” Rhianna asked.

Michael shook his head.  “I have a habit of giving you all your Christmas presents early, or buying you presents that aren’t out yet.  I don’t know who that’s from.”

Rhianna bent low and picked up the box, noting that it wasn’t especially heavy.  She tore into it, first noticing the little card that had been included, but soon after spotting the little white discs that sat within the box.

“Well, what is it?” Michael asked.

Rhianna looked at the card then, and finally understood what had been sent their way.  “It’s from Mervius,” she said.  She plucked out one of the discs and held it up for Michael to see.  “They’re little tracking devices so we don’t have to worry about not being able to find our babies, even if a dragon comes along and bloops them across the universe.”

A huge thank you to Leo Borazio and Wern Szuen Lee for helping us with our bookmarks this year, just like last year.  Once again they did an awesome job with everything!

The post Christmas Comet appeared first on Tellest.

Christmas Revelations

A Tale by Michael and Rhianna DeAngelo

In more ways than they cared to admit, the sands in the hourglass seemed to flow in the same direction.  Perhaps the only way they changed was that they flowed a little faster.

It was too difficult to ignore.  The world still hadn’t quite returned to normal, although there were signs of healing.  Gone were the worries of Zelda and Maisie not knowing how to socialize with other people, for there were far more instances of visitors to the house that year, especially as the months went on.  And so, too, was Rhianna’s interactions, as careful as they were.  The opportunities to see loved ones in safer ways had afforded some relief as well.

Though there was always, on the periphery, some worry that things were not as safe as they could be, a nagging feeling that enough wasn’t being done to feel completely comfortable.

They were baby steps, Michael tried to convince himself.

Yet, with all the baby steps there were, it felt like the previous two years were rolled into one, almost impossible to tell the two apart, with the sensation that far less time had passed than truly had.

When the day came that the DeAngelo family looked forward to each year, it seemed as though it came too quickly.  Perhaps for that reason, at first, they didn’t realize everything was not as expected.

The year before, Christmas seemed to come early, and almost entirely too powerfully.  It wasn’t until they were whisked away to Tellest that they learned of someone highjacking the holiday portal that typically brought them to Santa for whatever annual adventure or celebration they had in store.  Trapped in a strange facsimile of a house, nothing felt quite as rewarding that year as they were hoping after several long and fretful months—until they managed to ride a dragon to freedom and spent their holidays on a comfortable tropical island.

Still, they hadn’t managed to find the one that had thwarted Santa’s plans that year.  While it wasn’t typical for the DeAngelo family to hear from their jolly host outside of the holiday season, as the days ticked down to the next Christmas, they wondered about their plans.  If Santa’s brother hadn’t been stopped, who was to say that some other sort of deception wouldn’t be set in place a year later?

The difference, Rhianna explained time and time again, was that Santa was prepared that year.  They wouldn’t have to worry about being wrapped up in any tricks or ruses, and it was likely to be a perfectly fine time at the North Pole.

That faith was tested as the day before Christmas Eve arrived.

The evening hours, leading to midnight, were not awash in a fresh snowfall, as they often were.  Instead, the sky was bleak and grey, just enough light bouncing off the clouds to be able to see outside.  It was cold out; the wind rattled the windows of the house just enough that Zelda had to fight against her neurosis.  She didn’t shiver like she normally did—bolstered by the Christmas spirit, Michael and Rhianna supposed—but she did pant a bit.

Maisie and Peanut fared a little better, each snuggling the same warm blanket, though neither realized one was atop the other, separated by the layer of fabric.  Or, at least, that was what it appeared they wanted others to believe.

Michael sat on the couch beside them, the dog and the cat comforted by his presence, even though he’d spent the day at home rather than at work.  Though he’d taken some of the time off to write, at that moment, he’d settled a nice depression into the couch as he played a game.

“I can’t get up,” he insisted to his wife.  “Maisie and Peanut would be too sad.”

Rhianna, meanwhile, was filling the house with a lovely aroma, mixing something up in the kitchen.  “At least play a game with fun music so that I can listen.  Or change it to a show that I’m only half-interested in so that I can listen to the dialog without getting too invested.”

That time was long past, and they were drawing closer to the time they knew that magic would come to their little house.  They tried to settle their anxieties, but Michael and Rhianna had to admit, they were concerned with when the magic would arrive, and who it would belong to that year.

Rhianna set down a plate on the coffee table, with piping hot bread and an orangey glace atop it.  With the aroma that much closer to her husband, he could no longer ignore it.

“What’s this?” he asked.  “Bread and mango butter?  Not exactly cookies and eggnog, but I approve.”

“I figured it goes better with where we ended up last year.  A nice, warm island filled with yummy food… Santa deserves something special as thanks.”

“Yeah, okay,” Michael said.  “But he better be open to sharing.”

For some reason, everyone felt as though they were waiting longer that year.  Perhaps it was because everyone had been present throughout, and nothing had given that feeling of speeding up the day.  Husband and wife alternated checking their phones, identifying the time.

“Still an hour away,” Rhianna said.  “I can just sense the puppies want to talk.”

“And I’m trying to find out what way Peanut is going to berate me when she finds the means to speak.”  The dogs barked in unison after the slightest of delays then.  “You even had your tuna this year,” Michael said.  “That’s right, I didn’t forget.”

“Fifty-nine minutes,” Rhianna grumbled.  “Why is this day so long?  I can’t wait to hear their little voices again!”

“Hey, let’s not jinx it,” her husband insisted.  “The last time we got the portal early, we ended up imprisoned by—”

“That’s not going to happen this year,” Rhianna declared.  “I won’t have it.  I won’t!  This year, we’re going to have a perfectly splendid Christmas free of traps or locked houses, and especially eating things we’re not supposed to.”  Maisie ducked her head at that statement, though the woman patted her affectionately, for she had in fact been on her best behavior lately.

“No chasing after rambunctious pups and racing against giants and elves and dwarves?” Michael asked.

“Nope.”

“No fending off huge, carnivorous penguins?”

“Not a one.”

“Not even being turned into toys and battling it out against magical rats?”

Rhianna arched her eyebrow and smiled.  “That was a bit fun.”

“There’s always something,” Michael said.  “Even when it doesn’t look like there’s going to be.”

Time continued to pass, and while they could have sworn it was the next day already, it was still minutes from midnight.

“Hey, look on the bright side,” Michael said.  “We’re not being tricked into an escape room by Santa’s brother.”

Rhianna looked around, narrowing her eyes.  “Unless that’s what he wants us to think.  Curious that you said that, and that you stayed home today this year, isn’t it?”

“You really need to get out more,” Michael said, leaning over and kissing her on the forehead.

Rhianna feigned an angry glare at her husband, but the next moment, she cuddled up next to him a little closer on the couch, and grabbed his arm, nuzzling his shoulder with her head.  “You know, I wasn’t a fan of being deceived last year, but it was nice that the animals could talk a little bit earlier.”  Peanut hopped onto the couch then, searching for scratches.  Rhianna couldn’t stave off a laugh then, acquiescing to that request at once.  “Even the most persnickety of voices,” she added.

Maisie and Zelda joined them there some time later, the entire family snuggled together on the couch.

“A full boat,” Michael said with a smile on his face.

Of course, Peanut could only accept being flanked by the pups for a few moments before she hopped off Rhianna’s lap, forcing an involuntary grunt from the woman.

Rhianna sat forward then and reached for her phone.  “Do you want me to plug yours in so that it’s charged when we…”

As her words trailed off, Michael stopped scratching behind Maisie’s ears and tilted his head.  “What is it?” he wondered.

“Look,” his wife said, turning her phone to face him.  The locked screen showed the time then, the large numbers reading 12:02.  “It’s after midnight, and the portal still isn’t open.”

“Really?” Michael asked, nudging the pup off his lap.  “Maybe your phone’s time is off?”  When he clicked the button on his own phone however, he saw that his phone had flipped to 12:03 then as well.  “What’s going on?” he muttered.

“What are we going to do?” Rhianna asked.

“Well, I mean, it isn’t like Santa has any sort of technical support line, as far as I know.  But what about the book?  He communicated with us by book last year a few times.  Maybe he’s sending us messages this year as well.”

Rhianna leapt from the couch, eager to test that theory.  She ran to the writing desk they kept in the room, and grabbed for the tome that spoke of Santa’s lineage, and of the things he did to bring Christmas to life.  With a sigh setting her shoulders into a slump, she shook her head.

“Nothing here as far as I can tell.”

Even the animals seemed to know something was strange then, and Zelda ran to the back door of the house, scratching at the door.

“What is it, girl?” Michael asked.  He rose from his seat on the couch and hurried there as well, wondering if something was beginning to take shape there.  “Do you see anything out there?” he asked the pup.

Zelda looked at him for some time, almost as if she expected to be able to say something, but no words came out from betwixt her whiskered lips, and she scratched at the door again.  That late, several minutes after midnight, he was a bit worried about her waking up the neighbors, but nobody seemed to notice anything in the years that passed.  Then again, in those other years, there was certainly magic that took shape in the backyard of the DeAngelo household.

Reeling him from his thoughts, Zelda scratched even more incessantly.  Michael finally relented, and set the door open, a cool breeze whipping through the house enough that he thought of shutting the door at once.  Zelda skittered outside, and the rear light flickered on, but still, nothing could be seen.

“Last year things were way too early.  Maybe this year the pendulum is swinging the other way,” Rhianna said.  “But I don’t remember Santa saying anything about it.  I don’t think he would have just decided not to bring us this year without telling us.”

“You haven’t done anything that put us on the naughty list, have you?” Michael asked.  He chuckled to himself and shook his head, before looking at the other pooch on the couch.  “Maisie, do you want to go outside too?”

The littlest pup of the household was always the most excited to venture out into the world, whether it was because of a biological need or a psychological one, to check the perimeter, or even just to take a single step out and give everything an ocular pat-down.  That night, it was hard for her to even drag herself off the couch, and when she skittered to the other room, she stopped at Michael’s side, refusing to go outside.  She looked up at him, and when he looked down, she leaned over, nuzzling her head against his leg.

“I know, baby girl.  I want you to be able to talk too.”

By the time Rhianna stood beside the table and looked outside, Zelda seemed inconsolable.  “I can’t believe how sad they are.  I guess we really take for granted how much they look forward to this time of year.”

“They’re usually adventures like no other,” Michael said, a wistful tone causing a crack in his voice.  He looked back to the oven, the green light displaying the time.  “It’s ten minutes after midnight,” he said then.  “I’m guessing we’re not going anywhere this year.  I’ll go out with them and make sure they do their business and then we can get ready for bed, I suppose.”

When Michael stepped outside, Maisie went with him, looking up at him with every step they took, as though she was hoping he could bring the Christmas magic to life.  After a few seconds, she realized he was as unable to do anything as she was, and she set off sniffing at the ground.

She couldn’t find a spot she was satisfied with when a loud gust of wind blew through the area.  A large puff of snow seemed to arrive then as well, but Michael looked about the area in curiosity.  He glanced back at the door to the house, and saw his wife’s widened eyes, and she pointed to the ground there.

Sure enough, the snow had come up from the ground.

Michael recognized the outline of the portal at once.  “Zelda, get out of there right now!”

But it was too late.  As gusts of snow burst out of the ground, finishing their circle, the portal came into being, and Zelda fell through the magical vortex.

Rhianna banged on the door before opening it, and the force of the wind was almost enough to rip it off its hinges.  “It was early last year, and it’s late this year,” she called out.  “What if it’s a trap like last year?”

“Even if it is, it’s too late to hold off now,” the man insisted.

“Oh, we’re going,” she replied.  “But just be prepared for whatever is on the other side.”

Michael nodded, and before he had even taken his first step, Maisie charged forth as well.  Together, both leapt into the portal, crashing through the wall of rising snow.

Inside the house, Rhianna turned back toward the living room.  “Come on Peanut,” she said.  “I know you always resist, but…”

Even as she spoke, the cat scurried forward, though slow enough as to say, “I know you’ll bother me until I follow, but I’ll do it at my own pace.”

When they were both outside, Rhianna shut the door to the house, ensuring none of the snow would get in while they ventured to Tellest.  She scooped the feline up then, and then reached the perimeter of the portal.  She narrowed her eyes, and covered Peanut’s face so that the cat wouldn’t be bothered by the rush of snow, and then, taking a breath, she jumped as far into the center of the portal as she could, disappearing beneath the ground.

The roar of the snow and the wind continued for a few more moments, and then it stopped, the ground closing up again, the snow that churned into the air finally able to come back down again.  Before long, any evidence of the portal being there at all was covered in white flakes, and a few moments later, the backdoor light of the DeAngelo household went dim.

*          *          *

Michael shouted as he fell, hoping there was a pile of snow on the other side of the vortex to crash into.  By the time the portal magic wore off, and he saw where he would be landing in Tellest, it was too late.  He landed with a thud, a cloud of powdery snow taking to the air.

The man groaned, unable to produce a noise loud enough for even him to hear, and he rolled to his back—just in time for Maisie to land on his stomach, forcing a large breath from his lungs.  She didn’t seem to care too much that she had knocked the wind out of him, and she licked his face a few times before scampering off to investigate the area.

Off to the side, Michael saw Zelda peering off into the distance, the horizon seeming much farther off than he expected.  He climbed to his knees then, his arms outstretched, and he crawled a little bit away, hoping not to be squashed any further.

Before he could rise to his feet, Rhianna emerged through the portal, landing on a bent knee and an outstretched hand.  She looked to Michael at her side, who wore an impressed visage.

“Did you just stick a superhero landing?” he asked, his voice still quiet and ragged.

Before Rhianna could answer, Peanut hopped from her other arm, and bounced on the ground after realizing how cold it was.  She, too, moved beyond the landing ground, toward where Maisie and Zelda stood.

“I’ll bet it looked cool, but my body is going to hate me for that in the morning,” Rhianna said.

“It already is the morning, technically,” Michael replied.

“I stand by what I said.”  She took her husband’s hand, and they both labored to stand a little straighter then.  Together, they looked to their trio of pets, watching them gaze off into the distance.  “What are they all looking at?”

It didn’t take long for them to find that enlightenment.  A few rocky outcroppings stood in the area, but there was a clearing not far from them which the animals looked on from.  As Michael and Rhianna neared them, they realized they stood atop a clifftop overlook, with a seascape stretching out below them.

As majestic as the view was, it was perhaps the wooden longboats that sailed toward the nearest shore that caught their attention the most.  There were a variety of sailors in the ships, though from that distance, nobody on the clifftop could see anyone clearly enough to know if they were friend or foe.  They did notice that the longship figureheads were fashioned to look like reindeer, though.

“That has to be Santa’s fleet, right?” Rhianna asked.

“I’m not sure,” Michael said.  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Santa having a navy before.”  He hummed to himself then.  “An air force?  Now that makes sense to me.”

“Whatever sort of military forces Santa has on his side, this is unlike anything we’ve ever faced this close to Christmas,” his wife said.  “Things must be far bleaker than we imagined.  Just listen to how quiet it is.  I’ve played enough Viking video games to know what a battle is supposed to feel like, and it’s unlike longboats to be so quiet.”

“There must be a plan brewing,” Michael said.

As the pair discussed everything from war arrangements that they imagined their friend made, to the kind of enemies they expected to face on the field of battle, to just where that battlefield would be, the youngest member of the DeAngelo family couldn’t help but be distracted by something else.  A bug with a golden-glowing thorax buzzed about the area, and Maisie couldn’t help but follow it with her gaze.  If Zelda or Peanut seemed concerned with it, they didn’t show it.

Maisie turned about, trying to boop the bug with her nose.  It was no use though, for every time she drew close enough to touch it, the lumibug, an insect native to Tellest—though that one was certainly a bit exotic looking, even for the strange bugs—buzzed just far enough away for her to miss interacting with it.

That wouldn’t be a problem, she soon realized.  A handful of other lumibugs joined the first one, those other ones blinking with light of their own, in shades of green, blue, and red to join the golden yellow luminescence of the first one that caught Maisie’s attention.  She hopped into the air to play with the bugs as best she could, but they flew about in a crazy manner, until they ended up landing on a bush a bit further away from the cliffside.  At once, it looked like the shrubbery was decorated for the festive season, the bugs looking almost ornamental in their appearance as they rested there.

While Maisie stared at them, the small branches of the bush seemed to rattle and sway.  The little dog didn’t know what to think at first, but when she noticed the pair of eyes staring back at her, she knew what she had to do. She took in a deep breath of crisp air that filled her lungs.

“Merry Christmas!” she cried out.

The person hiding in the bush let their eyes go wide for a moment before they disappeared behind the greenery once more.  Behind Maisie, the rest of her family turned to regard her.

Maisie’s voice echoed across the cliff side, and they were sure that those in the longboats heard her as well.

“Let’s just hope they’re on our side,” Michael said.

“We’ve got more important things to pay attention to,” Rhianna said.  “Our babies can talk again!”

The lumibugs took to the air again, along with a bigger swarm of them that had been hiding within the bush, and Maisie twirled about and jumped in the air to play with them.  Her patches of white fur made an excellent canvas for the light to spill upon.

“Who were you yelling Merry Christmas to?” Rhianna wondered.  “There’s no one here.”

“There was though!” Maisie said, excited enough not to stop playing with her new insect friends, although every time she spun about, her eyes landed in the shrubbery not too far from them.  “Whoever it is, they’re hiding in there.”

Michael stood on the tips of his toes to try and peer into the bushes, but he didn’t see anything besides more lumibugs that flashed their abdomens about.  “Maisie, I think you might have just saw a couple of bugs close enough together that they looked like eyes.”

The little pup quit hopping around then, grumbling at the two humans.  “I know what I saw,” she insisted.

“Yeah,” Peanut interjected with a roll of her eyes.  “It’s just like all those times you hop in the window and bark at nothing.”

“There are squirrels that need to be told their place,” Maisie said.

“You know that much is true,” Zelda added.  “She’s pretty good at keeping her eyes out for rodents.”

“You’re a rodent,” Peanut teased.

“Psst!” they all heard then.

They looked about, trying to make sense of what just happened, but no body could understand where the noise came from.  Then Rhianna’s eyes flashed, and she pointed at the bush.  “Look!”

Sure enough, there were a pair of large eyes staring at them, and as the person inside the shrubbery pushed forward, the family could see their pointy ears poking out as well.

“You must be one of Santa’s friends!” Maisie exuberantly declared.

“Hopefully those folks in the boats are on our side as well,” Rhianna said.

The hidden elf brought her hand up and out of the bush, before swinging it back around and hovering it over its camouflaged lips.

“Never a good sign after your echoes are heard around all of the surrounding area,” Michael said.

The elf stepped out of the shrubbery and looked about anxiously.  The DeAngelo family could see that it was a female elf, like many under Santa’s employ, although that one wore battle paint and looked ready for war.

“There’s trouble in Tellest,” she warned with a whisper.  “There’s not much I can tell you here, but once we meet up with Santa, he’ll know what to do.”

“So, Santa is alright,” Rhianna said, blowing out a sigh.  “We had thought, with the portal opening so late…”

The elven maiden raised her hand to quiet the woman.  “Best not to speak out loud.  There could be hidden listeners.”

“By the time we find out what’s going on, those people in the boats will climb this cliff, and we’ll have very active listeners,” Michael joked, earning a scowl from the elf.

“We’re hoping they’re our reinforcements,” she said.  “But you know Santa’s brother.  He’s a master of deception, and it could all be a devious ploy.  We don’t want your presence here known, so if I am to take you to our mutual friend, you’ll need to be silent.”

“I can do that,” Maisie excitedly offered.  “I’m very good at being quiet,” she blurted.

“Only when you’re sleeping,” Zelda insisted.

“And barely then,” Peanut added.

The youngest animal grumbled a bit then.  “Why are you two always picking on me.”

“Because you’re the baby,” Zelda explained.  “It’s your job.”

“It’s okay,” Rhianna said, kneeling to pet the pup, as well as her two furry siblings who couldn’t stave off their jealously, and needed pets of their own.  “It’s a very important job to have.”

“Come on,” the elven maiden said, beckoning the family on.  “At the very least, we can get you beneath cover where prying eyes might not see you.”

The elf’s noticeable anxiety as she led them down rocky corridors through the mountain added to the DeAngelo family’s sense of unrest.  Even in trying times, during Christmas, Tellest had always held a sense of magic and wonder for the family of five.  But this year seemed bleaker, and more foreboding.  Rhianna sent a worried glance in Michael’s direction, her eyes echoing the same look of weariness he’d seen the last two years back home.  Without a word he reached out and squeezed her hand, which she knew meant everything would be ok.

The animals walked ahead, closely following the elf. Maisie kept nudging slightly ahead of the elf before looking back, as if willing her to walk faster.  Every so often, she whispered “is this quiet enough? I can be even quieter.”  Then, in the same exact pitch, she went on.  “Isn’t this even more quieter?”

Zelda let out a grumble. “It’s been a while since I put my mouth over your face. I think you need a reminder of who’s boss.” Peanut whipped her head around incredulously at Zelda.  “I meant…I meant just of her.  Sometimes. When you’re upstairs.”

“Even when you can’t see me, I’m still the boss.”

Zelda sighed.

Michael and Rhianna’s smiles at their exchange faded as they heard the unearthly sounds on the other side of a large stone wall covered in a dusting of white snow. It appeared as if the stones were haphazardly placed, perhaps from a rockslide or explosion on the side of the mountain.  The sounds from the other side seemed muffled, as if by magic.

The two humans tried to detect what was there beyond the barrier.  A commotion of some sort was there, but they couldn’t yet pinpoint a sound.  Whatever cacophony was there was beyond their detection

The elf gently placed her hands on the stones and uttered words of power in a language they did not understand.  She stepped backward a few feet toward the family.  Nothing happened for a moment, but then the rocks began swirling together weightlessly in the air, forming a human-like shape, although it was three times as tall and four times as wide as Michael, the tallest of the present group.  Just a short while later, a large golem of ice and snow stood there, fully formed and looming above them. The being peered down at the elf, and she fearlessly instructed it to allow passage. As soon as the order was given, the golem stepped aside, and the ground rattled with the force of its steps.  A faint swirling shimmer could be seen through the gentle snow flurries that blew from the mountain. There was motion on the other side, but nothing could be seen clearly through it.

“That must be a magic barrier,” Rhianna said.

The elf sent her a nod of acknowledgement.  “Quickly, we must hurry and close the entrance. I’ll take you to Santa when we’re through.”

Peanut fearlessly followed the elf through, with Maisie close on her heels. Rhianna and Michael looked around for Zelda and panicked when they did not immediately find her. Michael then felt something shiver behind his boots.

“What’s wrong?” Michael asked.

“The rock monster stomps were loud!” she whimpered.

Michael chuckled, picked her up and kissed her on the head. There’s probably going to be a lot of noise and a lot of people in there.  Will you be brave?” he asked.

“I’ll be… I’m tough,” she insisted.  “It was just unexpected.”

Michael then looked to his wife, who looked worriedly at the portal. “There’s probably going to be a lot of people in there.  Are you going to be all right?” he asked, half in jest.

Rhianna sighed.  “I’m fine.  It’s Christmas in Tellest.  It’s different from back home.  At least everyone here is jolly.”

As they passed through the magic barrier, they were flooded with very un-jolly sights and sounds.

They emerged through the magic barrier as though they had walked through a silk certain, into a clearing surrounded by mountains.  Crude hide tents were set up as far as the eye could see.  The festively dressed elves that they were used to in years passed were bustling about in leather and steel armor, with red and green warpaint adorning their faces.  The deafening clang of metal against anvils could be heard echoing through the clearing, as strong-armed dwarves mercilessly gave shape to weapons that they forged.  Where toys had been made in years past, all their attention was on instruments of war.

Even the gnomes who tinkered on some of Santa’s greatest projects, bustled about, hoping to be able to pivot away from playful gadgets to implements of the conflict yet to come.  Perhaps they could turn the tide and secure a victory for their otherwise jolly champion.

Orders were barked on all sides as the three races prepared for battle against whatever enemy they may be facing. The DeAngelo family stood frozen at the unsettling scene.  Maisie’s attention drifted to some nearby elves rolling a large snowball.

“Well, at least they seem to be having fun…” Maisie said with a nervous lick and a gulp.

The elves placed one sizable snowball on top of another, and another.  Encircling the figure, they began to chant a spell.  Hollow eyes and a cavernous mouth formed on the upper snowball, fashioning an almost skull-like appearance.  Frozen arms sprouted from the sides of its spherical torso.  Then, all at once, the snowman came to life, and it reached for a nearby offered weapon, taking it between frigid fingers.

“Okay,” said Zelda, wide eyed and perturbed.

The elf maiden beckoned them away from the army of the weapon-wielding snowmen taking shape. “Come, Santa has been awaiting your arrival.”

She brought the family through the rudimentary walkways between the encampments, and into the heart of the chaotic battle preparations.  A large tent, standing taller than the rest and covered in fur pelts and an array of fabrics to keep out the frigid air stood before them.  The elf maiden announced loudly that the DeAngelo family had arrived, but there was no reply from within.  She cleared her throat and announced formally again. “I have brought the DeAngelo family, by your command.”  Again, no reply came from within.  Before she could try again, Zelda bolted through the flap in the tent, yelling “Santa” with glee.  She immediately screamed and ran back out, batting her face with her paws as if something were wrong with her eyes.

“What happened?” the two humans of the group said in concerned unison.

“He’s … he’s….”

Before she could finish her sentence, Michael and Rhianna opened the flap of the tent, preparing for terrible news.

“He’s naked!” she finally exclaimed.

The two humans immediately dropped the tent fabric as if it burned their hands.  Before it fully closed, they could not hope to stave off the state of shock that gripped them.  Santa was clothed by then, in boots and pants, padded with leather and plated in steel.  His torso, however, was partially exposed as he fastened his tunic, and under the long white beard were the broad, defined muscles of a seasoned warrior.  Santa was covered in battle scars, and looked more like a Viking conqueror than the jolly Father Christmas they came to know through the years.  The husband and wife looked at each other with raised eyebrows, fighting the urge to laugh at the unexpected sight.

“Sorry Santa,” said Rhianna sheepishly.

“Was he really naked?” asked Maisie.

“No, he wasn’t,” Rhianna said with a chuckle.  “But I didn’t expect him to be ripped.” Her face glowed pink with embarrassment as she heard rustling within the tent, clearly within earshot.

Michael looked gleeful, excited to make fun of her for the blunder for a long, long time.  Still embarrassment could come later.  “He must have a marvelous diet plan,” he said, tapping her in the side with his elbow.  “Although come to think of it, lugging all those presents around is probably a decent enough workout.”

Santa emerged from the tent then, and the merriment died at the sight of him, wearing a fretful scowl, with worried eyes that seemed far more distant than in all the years since they’d first met him.

He was fully clad in armor, with the underlying fabric dyed blood red.  He wore a large white and grey fur mantle draped across his shoulders, and a thick black leather belt with matching leather boots.  Two giant war axes, elaborately carved with runes, and seemingly too large for one man to carry, were strapped to his back.

“Ripped huh?” Peanut said, looking him up and down with a discerning eye. “Hmm. Must be all the milk and cookies,” she said sarcastically.

Santa’s serious visage broke, and he let out a familiar chuckle.

“That’s indeed correct,” he playfully remarked to the small cat.

Michael chuckled with a smirk and patted his own belly.  “Uh, I assure you, it isn’t.”

Rhianna nudged his shoulder and mumbled “Calories don’t count on Christmas.”

“Or on birthdays,” he replied.

“Or when we’re sad.”

“What’s a calories?” Maisie wondered, tilting her head in confusion.

“Fuel for fetching!” Zelda explained.

Santa’s lips parted as he prepared another few remarks for his honored guests, but before he could say anything, he peered over their heads, and called out to his bustling holiday legion.

“Remember, either bolster the snowmen with something sturdy inside, or with magic,” his deep voice resonated.  “We need them to survive whatever force comes their way.”

None of the DeAngelo family remembered him speaking with such a low timbre in all the years that they had visited him.  They were certain that the stress of whatever turmoil had come to the North Pole had affected him tremendously.

Santa sighed, and for the briefest of moments, his voice rose back to a familiar tone.  “I’m sorry, but we have urgent matters to discuss.  There is a power at work that threatens Tellest, your world, and countless others.”  The solemnity of his words rang in all their ears.  He turned his attention to the elf maiden, who stood up straighter to receive his order.  “Ellaria, please be a dear and go to the dwarf forge master and fetch my helm.”  Zelda perked up at the word fetch, but Michael nudged her slightly with his leg and shook his head.  She understood the message that it was not the time for play, but her ears lowered a bit, nonetheless.

There was no hope in reining in all the animals’ whimsy though, as Maisie stepped forward and puffed out her chest.  “You know, I’m something of a foragemaster myself,” she announced.  “I find all kinds of things in the grass that I’m not supposed to eat.”

Rhianna groaned and slapped her forehead, while Michael shook his head and tried not to chuckle.

Michael was able to push past the quirky comments, noting the gravity of the situation.  “This isn’t a normal turn of events,” he said to Santa then.  “Is this about your brother?”

Their oft-jolly host let a somber nod answer for him for a moment, and then he stood in silence for a few seconds longer.  “I had thought that Loki would have had enough fun last year tormenting you, but it seems he’s back in full force this year.  We first noticed his arrival when he and his pillagers ransacked and took over my workshop.  Shortly after, he drove out the dwarves from the mines, and forced them back across the frozen wastes.  He amassed a squadron of frost giants and snow satyrs—far more than live in Tellest, I’d wager, at least this close together.  He’s fashioning his own army and preparing for an invasion.”

“Why?” Rhianna asked.  “Is he trying to stop Christmas?”

“Worse,” Santa insisted.  “He’ll try to use what I’ve made of the North Pole and use it to take over this world.  And when he’s done here, he’ll try to take over yours, and any other world that celebrates any version of Yule.”

“I don’t understand,” Michael said.  “Why would he do that?”

“It’s his own cruel way of mocking our history.”  The embodiment of Christmas stood taller then and folded his burly arms over his chest.  “I trust you’ve read the tome I gave you so many years ago?”

Rhianna nodded and offered the fellow a wide smile.  “We’ve been waiting forever to talk about this,” she said, almost too excited to bear.

“Right,” Santa said.  “Well then, you know the truth of it.  You know who I was before I came to Tellest.”

“Baldr,” Michael said, invoking the fellow’s original name.

Santa bowed his head, as though hearing his old moniker was a heavy burden to bear.  “You two might know the story, but your little ones may not.”

He shuffled back a step and sat upon the edge of the table beside his tent, leaning on his knee.  “Once in a land far away, I was noted for celebrating far different things.  I was the leader of hunts, and a prince upon my people, beloved by all, but soon cursed with the gift of foresight: that one day I would be struck down by one I called friend.  My mother also saw the signs of my demise, and she worked tirelessly to find a way to save me.

“But it was not to be,” Santa explained.  “Despite all her searches, and all her delving into magics, and seeking out the aid of others, my fate could not be changed.  Even though I seemed impervious to any other sort of injuries, there was one thing that could pierce the shroud that protected me.  It was the same ingredient that my mother had used to make a concoction that would otherwise keep me safe: mistletoe.”

Santa stared off into the snow on the ground beyond the DeAngelo family while they listened, enraptured by his tale.

“For a brief while, everything seemed to be going better.  I felt more confident, took greater risks, and even acted recklessly.  The others among the Aesir would fall upon me to surprise me and start a scuffle, seeing if they could do anything to harm me, but I would always find a way to come out unharmed.  Swords and hammers bounced off me.  Arrows could not pierce my skin.  It seemed I had imagined the opposite of what could happen to me.

“With my confidence regained, I led a pack of mighty hunters on an escapade across the sky.  Back then, I had horses that could fly instead of reindeer, but we almost came back with a good haul.  It was a cause for celebration again and again.

“One night, my hunters and I were playing around,” Santa said.  “I swore, to the ends of the mountains and back, that no matter what they did, they wouldn’t be able to hurt me.  Despite our better judgment, they tried with just about everything: axes, slings, shields.  But it was then that a surprising event took place.  My brother, Hudr, blinded by darkness since he was young, stepped forward, brandishing an exquisite spear.  Now, we didn’t know at the time, but it was crafted out of mistletoe.  Had I been aware of it, I would have avoided the damned thing like my life depended on it—because it did.”

Santa rubbed his abdomen just above his right hip.  “It didn’t take long.  The mistletoe reacted in my body at once, sending me spiraling to the ground.  I must have been unconscious before I fell, for I remember dreaming before I could feel the sensation of my head hitting anything.  The dream again left me believing I was going to die.

“But I didn’t,” he declared.  “In my visions, I always saw myself fall, but it was never a violent sight or anything along those lines.  Even caught in the mistletoe’s poison, I was aware that the interpretation I had years before was wrong.  I still lived, caught somewhere between awareness and a stupor that robbed me of myself.  I was weak, weary, and at danger of something terrible happening to me, but I would yet live.

“Outside of the oblivion I was trapped inside, the others of the Aesir believed that Hudr had killed me.  While he was put in shackles and locked away, the person who gave him the spear was still slinking around in the shadows.

“Now, admittedly, my mother had grown a bit paranoid over the prior year or so, always looking for a way to keep me safe.  She knew that there was some foul deed at play that had set me to oblivion.  While I lay on the cusp of eternal darkness, she conspired with my wife and one of our good friends, the dwarf Litr, to send me off somewhere safe from whoever had tried to have me killed.”

Michael and Rhianna looked to each other, familiar indeed with what had happened after Santa, his wife, and the dwarf came to Tellest.

“So, you think that Loki was the one to give Hudr the spear,” Rhianna surmised.

“And that now, after all these years, he’s finally found the other world you made your home, and he’s trying to finish the job,” Michael added.

Santa nodded.  “Even with thousands of years to try and find out what little details he could, I’ve managed to keep my identity and my secrets safe.  But I knew it was only a matter of time before he would find me again.  Still, I’ve no idea why he harbors a grudge after everything that’s transpired.  All I know is that he threatens all we’ve built here, and if we don’t do anything to stop him, we may be in greater trouble than in any recent time I can recall.”

“We’ve faced down lots of things for the sake of Christmas,” Zelda said, puffing out her fluffy chest a little bit.  “We’ll help to make sure Loki doesn’t stop it.”

Peanut sighed and sat down beside her, for a moment springing back up as she felt the cold snow on her backside.  “As much as I am loathe to agree with the dog, she’s right.  We didn’t spend the last five years helping you just to let some guttersnipe swoop in.”  She looked to her two humans and narrowed her eyes.  “We do not like uninvited guests.”

Santa chuckled then; his hearty belly laughs almost returned before his weariness took over.  “Alas, I don’t believe he’s using my resources to stop Christmas.  “He’s planning on taking over this world, as well as yours, and any other that celebrates Wintertide, or any sort of version of Yuletide.  In fact, I suspect yours might be the next on his list after what happened last year.  He was going to use the portal I open for you at midnight each year, but I thought better of it this year, and suspected something was amiss.  Sure enough, when I opened my portal, you could see his mischievous magic taking shape.  The color changed on this side, but who is to say what it looked like on the other end.  All I do know is that I arranged something with Rurnar.  A few giants from an opposing clan may have had a portal open up in their den, instead of it opening up in the DeAngelo household.”  When a few eyes grew wider at that revelation, he waved his hand and shook his head.  “They’ll be fine.  If there are puzzles to sort through like last year, I’m sure they’ll take a heavier-handed approach, but the important thing is that you’re all here.  And might I add, I apologize for the delay.”

“That’s okay Santa-man,” Maisie cheerfully said.  “We’re here now, and as I understand it, there are cookies for Christmas?”

“Cookies are for celebrating,” Santa said, regret tinging his voice.  “I’m sorry, little one, but a proper feast is only something we can come home to if we achieve victory this day.”

Maisie bowed her head, sniffling at her poor fortune.  “I always get food when I come to the North Pole.”

“It’s alright, Maisie,” Michael said, stepping forward and bending low to scratch behind her neck.  “We’ll help Santa beat Loki, and you’ll have a full belly in no time.”

“Santa, couldn’t we enlist some help from some of the other Aesir?” Rhianna wondered.  “Couldn’t Odin, or Thor, or Hela offer some sort of assistance?”

The Father of Christmas shook his head.  “At this point, I’d think they’d be like to join with Loki.  Imagine not seeing your family for such a long while that…”  His words drifted off then, for both Michael and Rhianna arched their eyebrows and folded their arms across their chests.  “Yes, yes, I suppose that was a poor excuse.  Perhaps I could send a missive, but by the time they receive it, Tellest could be overrun, with all the other worlds soon to follow.”

“I don’t know,” Michael said in a sardonic voice.  “It sounds to me like someone is ashamed they kept their whereabouts and survival a secret.  You know, it’s been over a year since I’ve seen my brother, and I miss him like crazy.  Your family would be overjoyed to hear from you again, even if things have changed after all this time.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Santa said.  “And it’s an error I shall consider if we manage to push Loki back.  But for now, we must prepare for battle.  Did you see the longboats in the bay?”

“Yep!” Zelda replied.  “They looked like Svetlana boats,” she said, her tail wagging as she recalled her Wintertide friend.

“Then battle is nearly upon us,” Santa insisted.  “On the other side of the bay, the battle will commence.  I’ve sent another fleet of ships on the other side to distract him.  But we’ll attack him from the rear and give him a taste of his own medicine.”

“So, no daring espionage missions into the heart of danger?” Rhianna wondered.

“No sending us hurtling back through time to stop Loki before he gets here?” Michael asked.

“No fiskeblugen?” Peanut asked.  When all eyes landed on her, she furrowed her feline brow, and stood a little straighter.  “What?  Every plan is better with fiskeblugen.”

Santa looked beyond the DeAngelo family then and offered up a whistle to some of his other allies.  “Alas, we don’t have the means to set…most of those plans in motion.  My adopted brother has taken over many of the places we would use to enact any meaningful strategies.  I’m at my wits’ end, and I believe we’ve exhausted all other options.  Therefore, I believe we’ve no better plans than this.”  He gestured with his chin beyond the family.

They turned about to see a group of dwarves hurrying their way with weapons and armor in hand, including armor that would have been far too small for humans to wear.

“Those outfits are much different than the ones we usually get from you,” Michael said.

“Unusual times call for unusual measures,” Santa said.  “War isn’t something that I would typically encourage, but we’ll need every soldier we can get on the front lines.  My only hope is that our magic can be made to serve us well—I don’t want anyone being injured if I can help it.”

“It is Christmas,” Rhianna said.  “No one should be hurt on Christmas.”

Before anyone could offer up even the suggestion of a protest, the dwarves moved into position, helping the recent arrivals into their armor.  The animals, despite being a bit skittish, were wrapped in mythril plate then as well.  The armor was light, but sturdy.  After Michael and Rhianna donned their protective gear, the dwarves handed over an axe to the man, and a shield and spear to the woman.

“Hey, why don’t I get a weapon?” Zelda asked.

“You’ll just have to use your teeth,” a voice they had just grown used to called out.  Ellaria hurried back to the tent, wringing her hands as she drew near.

“My teeth are exclusively designed to chew rawhide,” the little dog grumbled.

Maisie shuffled a little closer to her, struggling just a bit against the buckle of the armor she wore.  “You’re supposed to chew it?” she asked her big sister.

As they discussed their methods of ingesting their treats—and how Maisie believed Zelda was mocking her with how long she took to eat her rawhide—the third animal of the DeAngelo pack was fitted to her own armor.  Peanut, the lightest of the three, had a thin mythril plate situated on her body, and once the dwarves had it covering her, she looked ready for battle.  But as they stepped away from her, everyone in attendance could see that she had gone rigid.  Whereas she normally looked about with fluid movements, she only glanced this way and that with her eyes then.  A moment later, she tipped to the side, her tail sweeping as an indication that she was no longer happy with the plan.

“Peanut, this is no time to go catatonic,” Rhianna teased.

“I don’t need this foolish outfit,” the cat grumbled.

“It’s for your own protection,” Michael said.  “And the dwarves looked like they worked really hard on it, so you be gracious about it.”

“Put it on some other prissy kitten then,” she said.  “Put me on the front lines, Santa.  I’m in the mood for murder.”

All the other members of the DeAngelo family stood a little straighter after that comment, but in taking turns looking at each other, they began to nod in understanding.

“We’re just going to leave her behind this time, aren’t we?” Michael asked.

“We’ll lash her to the mast,” Rhianna said with a chuckle.  “Otherwise there goes your plans for keeping injuries down to a minimum,” she said to the Christmas figurehead.

Santa sighed, and nodded to the dwarves, who removed the armor from the cat.  “We mustn’t waste more time.  I’ll work with Nanna to make sure there’s magic in place that will protect the little ones, even if they don’t wear armor.  And to, uh…make sure that she doesn’t sink her claws too deep into Loki’s troops.”

A horn sounded in the distance, in the direction of the cliff that the DeAngelo family arrived on.

“Best get ready,” one of the dwarves said.

The camp bustled with activity as Santa’s soldiers moved on from their preparations.  The elves and dwarves hurried out of the camp, while the gnomes and the enchanted snowmen took a bit more time to move on their way.

Santa waved his guests on, and together, they made their way outside of the camp proper, and with a wave of Santa’s hand, the hulking golem that stood as its guardian returned to its rocky form.

“We can’t have anyone seeing our battle plans,” Santa said.  “As long as this fellow remains undefeated, the rest of the camp will look like mere rocks as well, even from the sky.”

“That’s a shame,” Michael stated.  “It would have made a good combatant on the battlefield.”

“Sometimes you must fight battles with your wits more than your strength,” their host said.  “Hopefully this surprise attack puts us in a better position to recover our losses.”

“We’ll find ourselves a victory this day,” Rhianna said.  “Christmas and Santa go hand in hand, and because of that, we’ll win through.”

The group made their way through the rocky paths that Ellaria had wound them through earlier.  In some of the especially hilly areas, they could see beyond the outcroppings, to the large stretch of empty space beyond the cliffs, and the sea that stretched out beyond the horizon.  Rather than heading up the path that they had come from upon their arrival, Santa led them on a sharper descent, and before long, they could see the shore, and the longships that would take them across the bay to where the battle would commence.

Still there was quite a way to walk, and not all of them were happy with the travels.

They heard her grunts before they turned to appreciate the great efforts Zelda was making.  She leapt off the ground, and even with the mythril armor upon her back, she managed to jump as high as the humans’ hips.

“Pick me up!” she cried.  “I don’t want to walk anymore!”

Rhianna looked down at the pup, and held her arms out wide, showing off her gear.  “I’m sorry baby girl, but I’ve kind of got my hands full here.”

Michael bent down to a knee and draped his war axe over his shoulder.  With his free hand, he scooped Zelda up, letting her rest against his other shoulder.  “Just be careful,” he said.  “I don’t want you to get a close shave with the axe.”

While they continued, Maisie drew closer to Peanut then, and dared to whisper to her.  “You might be the queen, but she’s definitely a princess.”

The cat couldn’t help but chuckle at that comment.

Finally, the group reached the shore, and followed Santa as he approached one of the nearer longships.  Just like all the boats in his fleet, the figurehead was fashioned to look like a reindeer.  All the ships had different, unique sails that marked them upon the sea, but the one that Santa moved toward looked the most like him.  The sail was fashioned to look red like his suit, with white snowflakes stylizing the look.

“It’s just waiting for us now,” Santa said.  “If you two would help us sail, we’ll reach the other side that much quicker.”

Michael nodded.  “Sorry Zelda, I’m going to have to put you down.”  He placed her on the ship, and she scrambled to a spot she felt more fitting for her.

Rhianna helped as well after she had placed her spear in the boat and set her shield against its side.  One after the other, she assisted the other two animals, though Peanut sprang off her when she felt safe to make the leap.

Michael grabbed his wife’s wrist and rubbed her hand.  “Are you going to be alright?  I know how you do with motion sickness.”

She furrowed her brow and widened her eyes.  “Don’t embarrass me in front of our favorite Christmas wizard,” she bade.

“Ah, but that might soon change,” Santa said, clearly hearing what the woman said.  When his guests turned to regard him, he gestured toward the cliffsides on their side of the bay.

At first, the DeAngelo family thought perhaps they were to look at the cliff where they had entered Tellest that year.  However, it was a bit farther away: a rocky precipice that extended up and out, the sheer drop below frightening indeed.

The person atop it did not seem bothered in the slightest.  The moon shining bright in the sky behind her, they could see a figure wearing the same shade of red as Santa, with an aura of magic surrounding her.

“Is that…?” Rhianna asked, her words trailing off, for she believed she knew the truth of her question before she asked it in full.

“That she is,” Santa confirmed.  “I told her that I’d prefer it if she stayed out of the thick of it tonight.  She has some history with Loki as well, and he may not know that she is from our old world.”

As he spoke, his better half gesticulated, working her magic until the aura that seemed to surround her pitched off toward the bay.  The arcane light coalesced, looking like the northern lights.  As it flowed forth, the sails atop the longships billowed, carrying the vessels forth.  The creaking of wood was the only sound that announced the fleet of Santa’s ships as they traveled toward battle.  The magical ribbons of light moved about until the woman seemed to disappear into the night, as though a swath of clouds had blocked out the moon and the stars only where she once stood.

The ship rocked up and down as the conjured winds propelled them forward.  Santa busied himself by sending quiet orders to the crew. Michael and Rhianna stood side by side upon one of the benches, in their battle gear, with weapons at the ready. Their three animals occupied themselves nearby, as they were too small to see above the antlered wooden figurehead on either side, and the ships rocked back and forth a bit too much for them to venture a glance over the side.

The man stood while propping up his wife as waves of nausea overtook her. “This isn’t a very intimidating look on me, is it?” she groaned.

“What do you mean?” he teased. “I certainly wouldn’t want to face you in battle. Not in lose-your-lunch range, at least.”

She let out a pathetic whine.

“My dear girl, this won’t do at all,” said an elegant voice behind them.

When they turned about, they were surprised by the sight before them.

Santa’s wife had joined them on the ship.  They could now clearly see her features.  She was a handsome woman, with a strong jaw but soft, full cheeks, only slightly touched by the lines of time.  Her long white hair was set in intricate braids near the crown of her head, and the rest flowed lightly in the wind.  Her blood red dress billowed around her, save for the black leather corset and chainmail at her torso.

“I thought you were heading back to the camp to away our return,” Santa remarked.

She raised her eyebrow and folded her arms over her chest.  “Once again, it seems that whenever you grow tense, you forget yourself—and me.  I told you, this confrontation involves me just as much as it does you.  When someone threatens the one that I love, they must deal with me directly.”  Despite her firm stance, she looked at the recent arrivals to Tellest with a smile drawing back her lips.  “Besides, we have friends here that need our help as well.”

She gestured, waving her hands about, and a small white glowing orb appeared.  It floated from between her palms and toward Rhianna’s forehead, the spell bursting into tiny snowflake-like particles under her skin. In an instant, she stood straighter, and color returned to her face.

Her eyes went wide as the motion sickness she fought with since the ship launched dissipated.  “I love you,” Rhianna said, only a hint of sarcasm about her tone.

Santa’s wife arched an eyebrow and smirked.

“Hey!” Michael exclaimed with mock indignity.

“But seriously, thank you,” his wife remarked.  “You’re invited to every family vacation we ever take.  Forever.”

The woman laughed with the same expression they saw on Santa: serious yet kind.

“I shall keep that in mind when the war is won.  It’s been many years since I’ve seen you all, though I suppose not too long since you’ve seen me.”  Michael and Rhianna exchanged looks, recalling their time traveling adventure to the first Christmas.

“Nice to meet you again!” said Zelda brightly. “But…why haven’t we seen you every Christmas?” the small dog inquired, tilting her head.

Nanna smiled down at the pup.  “Christmas is Santa’s business.  I still celebrate the old ways and have my own traditions to keep during the Yule season.

“You mean you don’t spend Christmas together?” Maisie asked, ears lowered.

“Sometimes, but he’s busing working and it bores me.  Yule is a time of feasting and drinking.  We see each other all the other days the rest of the year, but I am by his side when he needs me.  Like this year.  Loki threatens all our traditions with his greed.  We shall not allow it to go unpunished.”

Peanut walked forward and hopped onto the seat directly in front of Nanna. Their eyes locked in an intense stare.

“You,” the cat said.  “I like you.”

The woman nodded.  “You have good taste, my feline friend.”

Suddenly, the ship jolted forward, rendering them all unbalanced, and the ship came to an abrupt halt. Rhianna was thankful once again for the magic that washed away her motion sickness.

Nanna hurriedly made her way back to the front of the ship to assess the danger, passing her husband as she did so.

Santa joined the DeAngelo family on the other side of the mast, leaning over the edge to peer at the waters below.  However, he only saw his reflection looking back at him, depicted within crystalize ice that had formed below.

“Loki,” Santa muttered, the words pouring out like smoke from his lungs, as his hot breath met with the bitter cold.

Santa’s estranged brother used his gifts of cunning to turn the sea to ice that set upon the fleet, stopping them before they could cross the bay.

“I’m c-c-c-old,” Zelda said, her teeth chattering as she shivered.

“I w-w-ish I was under my b-blanket,” added Maisie.

“Santa, what do we do?” Asked Michael.

Rather than reply, Santa looked to the other end of the ship, to his wife, who surveyed the landscape.

Nanna recalled the winds she had conjured, as more of their ships would collide with the large sheets of ice if they pressed onward.  When the wind died down, she evoked silence into the air, and the crew on all the nearby ships were compelled to obey.  Nanna closed her eyes and listened.

She could hear the beating of hooves echoing on the frozen ground in the distance.

“What’s that?” Zelda asked, her head darting from side to side, the poor pup apparently less concerned with the cold then.

“He must have expected such a thing,” Santa said.  “We need to get the ships back to the shore.  “Nanna?”

His wife nodded, and began a new dance with her hands, the coalescent glow drawing forth from the atmosphere until once more it looked like the northern lights hovered around her.  The guests noticed as the sails pushed back the other way, the creaking of the masts reporting across the bay as the ships protested under the pressure.

“Hold it,” Peanut said.  “Wait!”

While Santa looked to the distant shore, and Nanna worked her magic, they were too distracted to see the concerns of the little cat.  Michael and Rhianna turned to regard her instead and peered over the ship to see what she saw.  The ice already circled around their ship, and when they looked to the other vessels of Santa’s fleet, they saw that they too were trapped.

“We can’t hope to batter our way through the ice,” Michael bade.

“That’s right,” Rhianna said.  “It’ll tear through the ships and will end up sinking!”

Santa began to speak, but he saw the trees beyond the bay rustling, and within moments, he saw his adopted brother’s fearsome army.

Mighty frost giants knocked over hulking evergreens on the other side of the bay, while furry white creatures—snow satyrs, the group soon realized—emerged en masse.  While the frost giants waited on the shore, the satyrs ventured to step onto the ice-crusted water, their hoofbeats resonated across the bay.

“Looks like they didn’t want to wait until we reached them,” Michael said.

“Are we going to be okay?” Maisie asked.

“Of course, we will be,” Rhianna said.  “We just need a plan.”

“We can start by getting off the boats,” Michael said.  “It doesn’t do us any good to sit here waiting for them to arrive.”

“You’re right,” Santa said.  “And perhaps we could still make use of them in some fashion.”  As the group scrambled off the ship, Santa bellowed to the rest of his army.  “Everyone, disembark the ships.  We’ll keep the ice strong.”

No one dared to question their leader, and before long, elves and dwarves stood atop the frozen bay, only the distant sea lapping against the ice shelf that was created.  Several of the ships closest to the shore were the ones that the gnomes and snowmen had boarded, and they struggled but eventually scrambled back to land.

Once everyone was out of the ships, Santa worked his own magic.  Before his army’s eyes, the ships rose out of the water, the brackish sea dripping off the hulls.  Imbued with Santa’s magic—the same he had used on Christmas night to give flight to his reindeer for millennia—the ships floated weightlessly in the sky.  The strain, however, to hold a fleet of warships aloft required significantly more power than he had planned to use.  He looked to Nanna, his brow sweating despite the bitter cold. She nodded and worked her own magic to conjure winds back toward the shore. The sails billowed in the forceful breeze as the ships glided above the frozen waters, the fleet appearing to move as if by the force of cresting wave that would never quite crash.

The DeAngelo family watched in awe, but concern, as the fleet sailed away and the army they amassed sat stranded in the middle of the frozen bay, with a stampede of snow satyrs heading their way.

“Santa! You can’t expect us to walk to shore, do you?” Peanut cried with indignity.

Santa grunted his response, the weight of the spell still shaking his usually steady demeanor.

“No,” but I do expect you to hold on.”

“Hold on to what?” Zelda piped up.

At once, it seemed the ice below released a cloud of flurries, as if some invisible breath had blown upon a dandelion and the petals danced in the air. The flurries spun in tightly wound circles until strands of silver rope appeared.  It was then they noticed the elves among the crews, moving their hands as if weaving an intricate tapestry in the air. The family recognized it as the same magic used to bring the snowmen at camp to life. The silver ropes reached out to each member of their Christmas army, as if beckoning them to take hold.

As soon as they connected with the conjured ropes, they were pulled in the direction of the floating ships.

“Hang on tight everyone,” Santa bade.  “We’ll retreat and regroup and—”

“I don’t have enough hands,” Michael said, grabbing hold of Maisie and Peanut while trying to convince Zelda to climb onto his arm.

“Ew, I don’t want to be that close to the dogs,” Peanut said then.  She clawed her way to the man’s shoulder, but before she could even arrive there, Santa worked his magic on them as well.  She floated into the air before she could catch a good grasp on Michael’s furry cloak.

Rhianna grabbed hold of Zelda before she could float away then, though she seemed almost pleased with the weightlessness.  “Yay!” the dog exclaimed.

“Let’s get them back into the lead ship,” Santa said.  “They’re high up enough now that we shouldn’t have to worry about any extra weight pulling them back into the water—or the ice.”  Even as he spoke, the perspiration that marred his brow had his skin shining, and everyone who knew the jolly fellow wondered if he would be able to last long enough to make it back to the clandestine camp.

Michael kissed Maisie on the forehead, and lifted her into the air, letting Santa’s airy magic take her too.  Peanut had already grabbed hold of the rearmost reindeer figurehead on the flagship, and it was as though she matched with vessel’s altered gravity then.  As Maisie floated on by, the cat sighed, and reached out, grabbing hold of the pup—even making sure not to use her claws too liberally.

Rhianna, seeing the success with which her other two fuzzy babies made it to the longship pushed back her anxiety and relinquished her hold on Zelda.  Within a second though, she grabbed hold of her again, squeezing extra tight.

“Mom,” the dog protested.  “Come on, I love flying!”

That time, Rhianna did let the pup go, and she lifted into the air.  Peanut didn’t offer her help that time, hopping down onto one of the benches.  Maisie was ready, however, and she reached out and chomped hold of her sister’s auburn fluff, pulling her into the ship.

“Remember everyone, hang on!” Santa said.  As he spoke, the snow-silken ropes the elves fashioned looped around the figureheads of the ships, binding the troops to the vessels.

But not everything would go according to their new plan, it seemed.  As the snow satyrs drew close, they did not gather up their weapons—axes and spears stored on their backs, Michael noticed.  Instead, they reached for a tool that nearly all of them had on their hips, but from that distance, none of Santa’s army or his guests could quite make them out.

When they set them spinning and then launched them in the air, it didn’t take long for them to realize what they were then.

A score of grappling hooks flew out over the bay, reporting as they landed on the ships with thuds and scrapes.

“They’re trying to steal the ships!” one of the nearby dwarves cried out.

Despite the ambush, the struggles, and the fear, a new power was heard on the impromptu battlefield then.

“Not with my babies inside,” Rhianna growled.  She grabbed hold of one of the silken strings that connected her to the longship and wrapped it around her spear.  She pulled at once, and only a moment later, Michael was beside her, helping her to tug the ship back.

Inspired by the recent arrivals to the North Pole, all of Santa’s troops rushed to move as well, some throwing axes across the battlefield, their weapons meeting the satyrs, but failing to cause any real damage, for a fluttering red shield seemed to push back against the attack.  Still, it was enough to have some of them stumbling back, grunting in their goatlike language.  The other dwarves and some of the elves tugged on the silken lines, trying their best to ensure their vessels were not lost.

For a time, neither of the two sides seemed to gain any ground.  Then Michael’s eyes went wide, and he grabbed hold of the spear a bit tighter.

“I have an idea everyone!” he called out.  “If we all lean back, we’ll be able to shift our gravity, and gain the upper hand.  I’m pretty sure I’ve seen something like this before.  It’ll definitely work!”

He performed as he said he would, leaning back until his upper body was almost parallel to the icy surface.

Surprisingly, his suggestion seemed to work, and he gained a little more momentum when he tugged on the boat that held their fluffy babies inside.

“Woo!” Maisie cried in excitement.

“Go, Daddy!” Zelda cheered him on.

Everyone was surprised when a jagged grappling hook sailed across the sky, aiming right for Michael.  With the man leaned back as he was, he couldn’t spot the thing coming.

Rhianna gasped, and reached up, but it came forth too fast.  She knew that she would be too slow to stop it.

It did halt, however, smacking against a blue shield that fluttered just the way the satyr’s had earlier.  Michael spilled to the ground though, the magic not doing enough to stop the full force of the missile, though it was enough to prevent any sort of true danger.

He shook his head, and spotted Santa, not so far away from him then.

“I will not lose anyone this day,” their host insisted.

Michael’s eyes were still opened wide by the sudden attack, the man wondering what would have happened if Santa’s magic was not there to protect him.  The look of surprise quickly turned to one of intense determination, and he stood up again, grabbing hold of the spear once more.  He glanced at his wife, and gave a nod, pulling with all his strength yet again.  That time, his emotions fueled him even more, and he could feel himself gaining ground, even with the slippery ice beneath them.

The snow satyrs—looking more goatlike than a typical satyr would—grunted and groaned, and even though they had cloven hooves that offered them traction on the iced over lake, they knew that there was little hope to press on against Santa’s army.  As they were drawn closer toward the gaps in the ice where the boats had once been trapped, they abandoned their hold on the grappling hooks, and began their own retreat toward the opposite shore.

“That’s right,” a voice called out over the region, otherworldly and powerful.  “You’ve broken their spirits, but it is time to regroup.”

Both armies retreated from the ice then, a bit winded, but otherwise unscathed.  The satyrs skittered across the bay, withdrawing into the forest as the frost giants loomed.  Once all their allies had made their way to safety, they too departed, their bluish skin disappearing beyond a cover of green and white.

On the other side, dwarves, elves, and gnomes finally caught their breath, trying their best not to show any weakness.  Michael and Rhianna still pulled their longboat, even with Santa assuring them they were all safe.

“We don’t mean to offend you,” Rhianna said.  “But we sort of make it a point not to leave anything to chance if we know better.”

Santa shrugged and nodded.  “You’re right of course.  We’ll be winded anyway, but we might as well be safe.  Loki’s frost giants are powerful enough to launch an attack even from this distance.”

Nanna reached her husband’s side then and grabbed his wrist.  “Let’s head back to the camp, and we’ll see if there’s something else that we can do to take back our home from your brother.”

*          *          *

With the adrenaline subsiding, sore muscles and aches and pains could be felt a bit clearer then.  Michael rolled his shoulders and rubbed his chest where the grappling hook had smacked against the shield.

Everyone had gathered under the massive tent their leader had back at the camp.  While Santa and his wife were present, there were only a few delegates of each of his other factions who waited inside.  And then, there were his guests.

Rhianna squeezed each of their little ones extra tight, the thought of anything bad happening to them leaving her with a pit in her stomach.

“I thought I had everything figured out,” Santa said, pressing his fingers against his temples.  “I guess it goes to show, you can’t deceive someone such as him.  He’s the god of mischief, after all, and deception goes along with that in some ways.”  He sighed and sank into an old oaken throne near a war table that showed the region.  Nanna was there behind him at once, gripping his shoulder.  “I’m afraid this might be the first year in quite some time that there won’t be any Yuletide celebrations,” the oft-jolly man admitted.  “No Wintertide or Christmas either.”

“We can’t give up yet,” Michael said, springing forward as though no pain or fatigue wracked his body.  “There’s still plenty of time between now and Christmas.  We just have to come up with a plan that Loki wouldn’t be able to get in front of.”

“That’s right,” Rhianna agreed.  “He knows how you think, even after all these years.  What you need is someone who would be able to make plans that you wouldn’t.  Let us be your advisors this year.”

Santa looked to his wife, who shrugged and nodded.  “What better plans do we have, my love?” she asked.  “What did you have in mind,” she wondered.

“Well,” Michael said, “I think we need—”

“Reinforcements!” Zelda offered up.

Maisie was there beside her though, shaking her head.  “No, no… We need superpowers!”

Before anyone could indicate whether either of those were good ideas, another voice piped up.

“You’re all fools,” Peanut said, looking at each of her claws as she flexed them.  “What we truly need…is chaos.”

Everyone sent confused glances her way, and she rolled her eyes and shook her head before hopping up to the war table.  “Think about it.  Loki is always going to be one step ahead of us, even if he doesn’t know us that well just yet.  He’s always got some kind of contingency.  But what he doesn’t have a plan for is absolute lunacy.  He wouldn’t expect a plan that wasn’t well-founded, so let’s find a plan that stinks!”

“First, we need the dwarves and elves to stop making weapons and armor and start making fiskeblugen!”

“Peanut, how can you be hungry at a time like this?” Rhianna wondered.

“It’s all part of the plan,” the cat insisted.  “No one will expect it.  We take the smelly stuff,” she said, moving her paw to the side to better enunciate her proposal, “and then we cover me in it.”  When no one seemed to be impressed with her idea, she sighed and rolled her eyes.  “I’m a misunderstood artist, born well before my time.  But it’s perfect.  The smell could attract all sorts of attention.”

Michael and Rhianna looked at one another, considering the disorderly wisdom of that notion.  Neither said a word, but they could see in their spouse’s eyes that they saw not only the possibility of the plan working, but also the fun that could be had in pursuing it.

“This could work,” Santa said, rising to his feet.  “And moreover, we could still consider the other little ones and their plans as well.”  He looked to Zelda and nodded.  “I think it’s about time we say hello to some old friends.”  He cast his gaze to Maisie next.  “And as I recall, you have some experience with magical artifacts, don’t you?”

Maisie sat up a little taller, as close to a canine smile on her face as was possible.

“Let’s not dawdle then,” the red-attired man bade.  His jolly demeanor had returned, and he approached the war table with an eager grin upon his face.

*          *          *

Though she was not alone, Zelda felt a bit of anxiety at the lingering thoughts of her family being so far away.  They all had their roles to play though, she knew, and soon she would end up being the hero of the day.

By her side, two elves—including the one named Ellaria that she had met after coming through the portal into Tellest—traveled along with her, leveling their bows in case anyone was considering a devious attack on the little pup.  The forest was dense, and trouble could lurk behind any shadowy thicket.

Far beyond where they were, they could hear a strange sort of grunting groan, and the elves drew back their bowstrings, prepared to fight off any monsters that would have been hiding in the woods.  As warm as it was under the coniferous trees, hardly any snow was able to coat the forest floor.  Whatever creatures there were would be camouflaged without the white canvas behind them.

“It’s just a little further, right?” the little, red-furred dog asked.  “If Santa was right about the clearing, we’ll be able to see better in a few more minutes.”

“The northern wilds are not to be taken lightly,” Ellaria told the pup.  “A few more minutes might be all the time we have before something unspeakable happens.”

Zelda gasped.  “You won’t run out of bones, right?”

The elf arched an eyebrow at the dog, confused by such speak.  “What foul curse do you speak of?  Do your bones dissipate back on your world?”

“What?” Zelda asked.  “What’s a dissipate?”

Ellaria waved her hand in frustration.  “Never mind.  The only thing I’m concerned about regarding my bones is making sure they’re not crushed by whatever monsters are out there.”

Zelda snorted, the intentional gesture almost looking like a sneeze.  “Whatever dangers are out there my friend can take care of it.  When I talked to Santa, he said they’re the only one brave enough to live here in the clearing.”

“Then she’s brave indeed,” Ellaria declared.

When the pair of elves and the little dog emerged from the woods, it took some time to make sense of the clearing before them.  A light fog spread over the area, seeming to rise from the lake in the center of the otherwise snowy expanse.  The moon shone down over the mist, illuminating it in an eerie glow.  The moon reflected in the still water of the lake as well, though the fog played odd tricks on its likeness.

The group heard another strange grunt, but that time, it was followed by an immense roar, prompting Zelda to send a wide-eyed gaze toward Ellaria.  “Are there dinosaurs here?”

Returning the dog’s gaze with a quizzical one of her own, Ellaria shrugged.  “You and I have very dissimilar breadths of knowledge little one.  I don’t even know the word you just used.”

“To be honest, I don’t really know it much either,” the dog said.  “But I know it sounds just like that!”

“That wasn’t…whatever you said it was,” Ellaria insisted.  “It was a—”

Before she could say another word, the fog cleared just enough for them to see the white-furred creature bound across the area.  The elf behind Ellaria gasped and sprinted back toward the tree line, even though the monster didn’t seem to aim toward them.

“Coward,” the maiden said as she reached for an arrow in her quiver.  That arrow seemed to be a bit different than the other ones she had, for the tip was colored crimson.  She nocked it to her bow and drew back the string.  “Are you ready to see what foul beast haunts this clearing?” Ellaria asked.  She released the bowstring and watched it fly into the air.  The red phosphorous activated from the speed of the arrow careening across the sky, and when it did, it illuminated the clearing further, even scattering the fog somewhat—a little bit of Christmas magic, Zelda was certain.

As visibility improved, the pair who stood their ground in the field watched as the white-furred creature kept up its charge, charging at first on its hind legs like a human before teetering forward and bounding on all fours.  Zelda, even from her lower vantage point, was the first to see the reason they had come to the clearing.

The moonlight caught on the reindeer’s head and antlers as the light of the red phosphorus dispersed.  She stood for a moment, finishing whatever grass she grazed on that she had found in patches amidst the fine layer of snow.  When she was done, she reared up and swung her head, answering the monster’s mighty charge.  She never hesitated, beginning to rush forward as soon as her front hooves landed on the ground again.

“Svetlana,” Zelda said, just reining in her emotions before she would have called out a greeting to her friend.  She knew that there were dangers ahead for the reindeer, and that any distraction could be trouble.

Ellaria pulled another arrow from her quiver, but Zelda hopped up on her hind legs.

“No,” the little dog insisted.  “You might hit Svetlana.”

The maiden grumbled a bit, but knew the dog was right.  She looked back to the tree line, where she spotted her frightened companion, and shook her head, gesturing not to attack.  He didn’t seem willing to even draw his bow anyway, the fellow cowering behind one of the evergreens.

The braver pair watched with bated breath as the two creatures continued their rush toward one another.  They dropped their heads, prepared to butt skull against skull.  A loud crack echoed in the clearing, sending a few of the birds who were bathing in the warm lake fluttering into the sky.

Zelda hopped up again, eager to see what happened.  Standing on her hind legs, she was able to see the white-furred creature topple backward, dazed before it even struck the ground.  Svetlana shook her head, for certainly the blow did not come without some minor discomfort.

With her mouth hanging agape, Ellaria blinked away her surprise.  “She knocked that yeti down with a single strike.”

“That’s because Svetlana is amazing,” Zelda said, hurrying forward as soon as her feet hit the ground.

Ellaria’s focus was on the withdrawing yeti, then.  The creature knew better than to challenge the spectacular reindeer, and it cleared out from the area, rubbing its head with its leathery blue hand.

When Ellaria was certain an attack wasn’t coming, she looked down to her where she had last seen her companion, confused by her absence.  She adjusted her vision then, spotting the mutt charging across the field as well.  And the elven maiden wasn’t the only one who had noticed her.

Svetlana began a charge of her own as well.

With her eyes going wide, Ellaria stuttered before offering a warning to one of Santa’s esteemed guests.  But it was too late.  Zelda cared not for any cautioning.

The reindeer dropped her head again, her antlers close to gouging the ground.  Zelda, too, bowed down, as though she was waiting for the inevitable strike.

But the pair skidded to a stop when they drew close, nuzzling their heads against one another instead of striking a violent blow.

“I’ve missed you!” Zelda cried.

Svetlana grunted in turn, and snorted when she rose back to her tall, proud position.

“Well, I know that,” the dog responded, seeming to understand the reindeer.  “But I’m only allowed to come to the North Pole once a year.  You could just come to our house, couldn’t you?  Don’t you fly?”

The majestic creature made a sound that seemed akin to a bark, and Zelda could sense her frustration.

“Okay, sorry.  You don’t have to be all upset about it.  I can’t fly either—except for that one time.”  She blew air out through her nose, which prompted her to sneeze then.  “We’ll work out the logistics of more playdates later.  That’s not why I came here today.  Santa needs your help.”

Svetlana tilted her head to the side, a bit intrigued by the statement.

“There’s trouble down south, and we could really use your talents to help our friend out.”

The reindeer stared past the dog then, noticing the elven maiden a bit further back in the clearing.

“Oh, her?” Zelda asked.  “That’s just Ellaria.  She’s one of Santa’s friends as well.  She didn’t think you were real, but I showed her.”  The pup spun about in a circle, excited that she was able to prove her traveling companion wrong.  “So, what do you say?  Are you going to be able to help us?”

Svetlana seemed to grumble and began drawing away from Zelda.  That time, the pup didn’t seem to understand her old friend, for it was her turn to tilt her head in confusion.

“What did I say?” Zelda wondered.  “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings!”

The reindeer headed toward the tree line on the opposite side of the clearing, and Zelda was fast on her hooves, trying to make sense of what was causing the legendary reindeer to turn her back on their mutual friend.

“We’re going to be in big trouble,” Zelda said.  “We need all the help we can get, and I was just telling everyone how cool you were!”

Svetlana turned around, facing the lake, and blew out a deep breath, the air turning to steam in front of her snout.  Then, she sent out a series of loud, sustained grunts, stomping her feet on the frosty grass with a cadence that sounded deliberate.  Once more, Zelda tried to understand her but to no avail.  Even without understand the specific nuances of Svetlana’s noise choices, Zelda and Ellaria understood just a few moments later what the delay had been for.

A score of other reindeer emerged from the forest, the animals joining their leader there without fear of the visitors.

“You’re all going to help?” Zelda wondered.

Svetlana responded with a series of quick nods, before she dipped her head and turned to the side, offering up her antlers.

“Hurray!” Zelda replied.  She grabbed hold of one of the antlers then, and Svetlana lifted her head and pivoted around, delivering the mutt to her back.  “To Santa!” Zelda cried.  “Let’s save Christmas, and beyond!”

*          *          *

The burly, squat fellow rested his arms on his knees, and it took everything in him not to spill to the ground while he accidentally leaned forward.

“I don’t know how you do it,” the dwarf mused.  “It’s like you never get tired.”

Maisie offered up a canine shrug, the muscles in her back flexing for a moment.  “I think it’s from when I swallowed the gem two years ago.  I get worn down a little bit, but it’s only when I stop doing something that I realize running is a lot of work!”

“Well, could you tone it down just a bit,” her traveling companion asked.  “You’re making me look bad.”

“Maybe we can borrow a sleigh and I can pull you up the mountain,” Maisie teased.

During their journey toward their destination, the dog learned that the dwarf, Kjotvi, was a distant descendant of Litr, Santa’s friend who had joined he and Nanna on their pilgrimage to Tellest.  While Maisie had never seen the celebrated dwarf, she could tell by Kjotvi’s enthusiasm that Litr had earned great renown among their people, and indeed most of the communities of Tellest’s North Pole.  Whenever Kjotvi felt run down or worried, he invoked the name of his relative, and pushed on.

And so it was as they pushed past the latest snowy hillock.

“You know, the last time I was here, it felt a bit darker,” Maisie explained.  “With the big ol’ moon in the sky, it’s like I’m looking at something brand new.  I’m going to need you to start to lead the way soon.”

“Aye, I’ll handle it,” Kjotvi insisted.  “Just need some of that little DeAngelo dog energy.”

Maisie forced a sneeze then.  “Trust me, it’s not both of us,” the little dog said with an air of superiority.  “Zelda gets all sleepy after a five-minute walk.  She begs to be picked up!”

“Maybe I should have traveled with the other one,” the dwarf muttered.

“What was that?” the pup asked.

Kjotvi just stared for a moment, but realized he’d been found out.  “What, did that little rock give you super hearing as well?”

“Nope, that’s all me,” Maisie said, resuming her trek.  “It helps to know when someone’s crunching on food and trying to be sneaky.”  She stopped suddenly, her head darting from side to side.

“Did you hear someone eating a cookie or something just now?” Kjotvi wondered.

Maisie shook her head.  “I think we’re here.  This was the cave I found when everyone was yelling at me.  Phew, that journey felt longer for some reason this time.”

“And you think we’ll find who we’re looking for in there?” the dwarf asked.

“If Santa says it, it’s got to be true.”  She led the dwarf inside, taking her time to move about, as the moonlight was only strong enough to illuminate the first few feet of the cavernous tunnel.

As she went through the darkened passageway, Maisie couldn’t help but smile.  Some marks remained in the cavern: the scratches and bites that she had nervously left upon the walls and beams so long ago.  She had come a long way since then—still reacting to stress in her own way, but she knew that had made great progress, and nothing was going to cause her any undue grief again.

With Kjotvi close behind her, the pup’s ears perked up then, and the dwarf knew it was more than just a passing thing at that point.

“Is everything alright?” he wondered.

Maisie nodded, though she hunched a little lower, just in case.  “I hear voices.  But they’re…”  As her words trailed off, she sprang up, and her tail wagged excessively.  “They’re familiar!”  She sprinted ahead, leaving the dwarf to stumble after her.

Before long, the pair of them found lantern light spilling into the tunnel, and they heard the mirthful voices of those who inhabited the cavern at that time.

“Well, my ears aren’t all that good,” Kjotvi said.  “But I’ve got a big ol’ nose that works better than most, and that’s a delightful holiday feast if I’ve ever smelled it.”

“Just like last time,” the dog said, her tail wagging so fast it looked like it could lift her off the ground.

The pair entered the large chamber of the cavern, which had been decorated to be far more festive than the last time the pup had been there.  Garland was strewn from the ceiling, and the walls had been painted in striking colors.  A small table had been set out, brimming with food—and then a larger one not far from it with enough food to feed a giant.  Coincidentally, a giant reached for a mammoth rib before he spotted the surprise visitors.

“Maisie?” his deep voice resonated.

“Rurnar!” the dog excitedly exclaimed.

“My friends,” the giant said, gathering up the attention of the elf and the dwarf who mingled in the cavern.  “Look who has just joined us!”

Maisie’s eyes went a little wider at the sight of two more of her old friends.  “Halgrum!  Beroras!  I hadn’t expected to see you here.”

The elf dropped to a knee and spread his arms out wide, ready to accept a hug from the little dog.  “My, it’s good to see you,” he said.  “We began a yearly tradition after our little feast years ago.  We come together before Christmas to celebrate our friendship.  We even read about your family’s exploits throughout the year.  Santa sends us a missive every once and a while.”

Maisie gasped.  “You didn’t hear about those other holidays we celebrate, did you?”  She hopped down from the fellow’s leg and gave him a very solemn look from the top of her eyes.  “Zelda cheats during the egg hunt, I’m sure of it!”

“We hear a little bit of everything, little one,” Beroras said.  “But mostly we hear how much the five of you love each other, and how you’ve been keeping each other sane and happy during this tumultuous time in your world.  I have to say, I thought it was difficult in the harsh, cold north here.  You endure much.  But now is not the time for somber thoughts.  We should rejoice, for you’ve come to visit!”

“I dun know about that,” the dwarf said, shuffling forward while holding his arm across his belly.  Halgrum arched an eyebrow, the other bushy bit of fur on above his other eye lowering enough to have the dog wondering if he’d blinded himself.  “As I recall it, this one might just eat everything we’ve got on our plates, and then some.”  He patted his stomach then, demonstrating that it was quite distended then.  “Then again, mayhaps I’ve already had me fill.”  He let a little chuckle separate his lips then, and he tousled the fur on the back of Maisie’s head and neck.  “It’s good to have ye here, Maisie.  Although I suspect ye’re not here on your own—without the rest of yer family, that is,” he said, offering a little bow to the unfamiliar dwarf.  “There must be trouble brewing, eh?”

“More than you know,” Maisie said.  “We came here because we need your help.  This is one of the greatest challenges that Santa’s ever faced, and he—well, we—thought we could call in a few favors.”

Beroras folded his arms over his chest then.  “You came here specifically for Rurnar, didn’t you?”  He smirked, only slightly offended by his suspicion.

“Well, the bad guys have giants of their own,” Maisie explained.  “Big, mean blue ones!”

“Frost giants,” Kjotvi clarified then.  “Every now and then they venture to our realm, and we chase them off, but we’ve never seen them in such grand numbers before.”

“I’ve never seen the likes of ye before,” Halgrum said.  “How are we ta know ye haven’t led this poor little pup astray?”

“Hey!” Maisie grumbled.  “I’m bigger and smarter than I was before.  Kjotvi was there with us in Santa’s tent.  I trust him, which means you can too!”

“Easy there, Tiny,” a more powerful voice bellowed from further back in the opening of the cavern.  Rurnar bent forward, letting his powerful gaze fall upon the little dog.  “You don’t have the magic powers that the amulet once bestowed upon you.”  He turned his shoulder, the trio of revelers looking up at the decorations then.  Sure enough, the amulet from the feast two years earlier hung from the apex of the cavern, the reflecting torchlight sending sparkles scattering upon the stone walls.  “You’ll see we’re a little cooler and more collected this time.  Over the last couple of years, we’ve learned to take a breath, and plan things out.

“So…” the giant went on, his solitary syllable sounding artificially dragged out.  “Are you taking care of that blanket I gave you?  You didn’t end up eating that, too, did you?”

“I don’t do that anymore,” Maisie grumbled.

“Would you like to?” Rurnar asked.  He reached up and grabbed the amulet, bringing it closer to the dog.

The scrappy black and white pup was mesmerized by the jewel once more, the sparkles reflecting in her eyes.  She licked her lips and sniffed at the amulet.

“Is…uh… Is everything okay?” Kjotvi asked.

Without consciously considering his words, Maisie began to nod.  “I know what to do,” she whispered.

*          *          *

A strange drumbeat resonated through the icy canyon; the few dwarves stationed at the maw blew out nervous breaths that turned to steam the second they left their lips.  They watched in anxious anticipation as the gnomes’ contraptions were put to the test.  The cat that oversaw the operation, on the other hand, paced between the dwarves, and paused every few moments to stare down the icy corridors that she remembered from so long before.

“How goes your progress?” Peanut asked then.  “We can’t wait too much longer.  As much as I am loathe to admit it, I would be slightly perturbed if anything happened to any of my family.”  Her eyes darted from one dwarf to the other then.  “I mean, uh… Who would feed me if anything were to happen to them?  And as for the dogs, well… They somehow elicit more sympathy from the humans, and that benefits me as well.”  She clicked her tongue then and turned back to regard the dwarves.  “I asked you a question!” she grumbled.

A gnome upon a dais overlooking the central contraption froze, looking through oversized spectacles to the vexed puss.  “Miss,” he said, feeling foolish for uttering the pleasantry, “as silly as it may seem, this plan requires pinpoint precision.  We must be utterly cautious, otherwise the whole thing could be folly.  And moreover, there would be somewhat greater consequences,” he said, wrinkling his nose as the thought.

Everyone looked to the other two gnomes that traveled with the group.  The pair wore far less festive attire, each wearing what looked like an oversized diving bell atop their heads, with a thick pane of glass separating them from the outside world.  They worked a set of levers on large vats beside the central contraption, mixing some foul concoction with tremendous labor.

It was backbreaking work, especially for the diminutive people.  Strange, foreign sounds seemed to emit from the gnomes’ suits.  They grunted and groaned and forced out fretful breaths as they worked fervently, knowing that their patron saint of winter—as well as their excessive commander, for the moment—would be satisfied if the plan was a success.

“Come on then,” Peanut meowed.  She sat upon her rump in the snow, hopping up for a second more before she could acclimate to the sudden discomfort.  Then she looked at the lead gnome with an angry scowl upon her face.  “Overseer Ulgifda, is it?  What’s taking so long?  I thought the stuff was ready to dispense.”

“Ready to transport,” the gnome known as Ulgifda clarified.  “But the rest of the gadget won’t work if we hurry things before they’re ready.  You know we cobbled this together as quick as we could, but we don’t want to take unnecessary risks.”

Peanut growled, sounding more like a feral savannah cat than a lazy housecat.  She looked to the dwarves then, who stood a little taller after catching her gaze.

“You two, who cares about the drums.  Help these two to mix what’s in there so we can get things moving a little quicker, eh?”

The drummers ceased their drumming, looking to each other with concern upon their faces.  The one had his head turned just far enough that Peanut could see the prominence in his throat sink, no longer disguised by his beard.

“If something happens to my family because you were lollygagging…” she said, the cat’s concern somehow quite apparent.  All at once, all the false confidence, the abrasiveness, the smugness, it melted away, leaving the old cat looking weary and worried instead.

Seeing the guise shift, even abrupt as it was, the dwarves were filled with new determination.  They set their drums down, and hurried to the side of the gnomes, helping their associates to turn the cranks that mixed the concoctions inside the vats.

“That’s it,” Ulgifda declared.  “We’re almost there.  Just a little bit more.”  He wrapped his fingers around a handle upon the dashboard of the contraption before making eye contact with the frustrated cat.  “Miss Peanut.  It’s ready.”

“Throw the switch,” the cat insisted.  “We’re ready.”

With a nod, the gnome foreman did what was expected of him, pulling back the lever that activated the central device.  At once, the vats began churning, sending their questionable contents through tubes into the main contraption.  With atypical fuel finally flowing, the device unlocked, and a huge mechanical arm swung up from the opposite side of the control panel.  A circular disc expanded from that arm, some sort of magical technology growing out from the metal chassis.  Blades extended from the disc then as well, and in only a few short moments, they began spinning, the gnome technology operating without any issues.

Peanut sat in front of the fan, a mischievous grin upon her face.  But as the blades spun faster and faster, a strange scent washed over the area.  The cat’s grin turned from one of impish intentions to an almost euphoric smile then as the fiskeblugen wafted forward.

While the two gnomes with the diving bell helmets were able to push past the potent odor, the two dwarves and the gnomish overseer could not escape it.  Ulgifda retched, nearly spilling the contents of his stomach into the snow.

“Trying to make room in your bellies for this delicious stuff?” Peanut teased.  “Well, I’m afraid this batch isn’t meant for you few.”

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, a drawer in the central contraption opened with a mechanical hiss, steam shooting off into the cold early morning air.  The cat stepped forward, looking at the central vat of pickling compound.  She took a deep breath then, enraptured by the scent, even while the dwarves, grabbed up their beards and smushed them against their noses in a futile attempt to escape the pungent smell.

Peanut and her companions were not the only ones to detect the overpowering smell then, she knew.  Behind her, the canyon walls shook, shards of ice collapsing and shattering down below, a strange cacophonic symphony playing along the towering frigid corridor.

The cat turned to her allies then.  “That’s the sign that our plan is working.  Go on, run,” she said.  “I’ll be right behind you.”

Thankful to give their stomachs a break, the dwarves and the gnomes withdrew as planned.  Peanut, left alone, sat down again, taking in the sounds, the vibrations, and indeed the hardy smell of the fiskeblugen—along, she knew, with something else.

“Thank you for your help, Revan,” the cat whispered, remembering the assistance she received from one of Santa’s elven helpers.  The maiden was a wonderful alchemist, and when Peanut’s insane plan was revealed to her, she was more than happy to lend a hand.  “Well then,” the cat said, her quiet voice carrying into the canyon, “let’s give them something to chase, shall we?”

And with that, Peanut hopped into the smelly vat of liquid.

*          *          *

Michael and Rhianna peered over the rocky outcropping, sneaking a peek at Santa’s alchemical lab—as well as the pair of Loki’s satyr sentries who watched over the door of the building.

“You’re sure he’s in there?” the woman asked her husband.

Furrowing his brow, Michael turned to regard Rhianna.  “I’m not certain of anything.  But if Santa says that Raskagar is in there, that’s where we’re going to go.  He’s integral to the plan, and—”

“Peanut’s plan,” Rhianna interrupted.

“Yes, Peanut’s plan,” Michael repeated, understand the inanity of the statement.  “But there’s some logic to the illogical…ness, of it.  Let’s just hope Santa’s intel was correct, and we didn’t waste our time getting here.”

“Let’s hope we don’t get captured or killed,” Rhianna added.

“Ye of little faith,” Michael said then, a confident grin appearing on his face.  “You think we’ve got anything to worry about with this big guy on our side?”  He absentmindedly slapped the rocky outcropping then, activating the magic that was present there.

All at once, the stones barreled forward, rumbling the ground around the alchemy lab.  The satyr sentries discovered too late that the boulders tumbled their way and let out a pair of sad little bleats before they were sent flying, cast away from the doors they guarded.  The boulders—all bunched together, and connected by magic—rolled on uninhibited, until they struck the two oak doors, slamming them open.  The collection of stone finally rolled back, and as it did, it reformed into the huge golem it was—the same one that had once protected Santa’s camp.

“Okay, that’s never happened before,” Michael said, a little embarrassed from activating their magical guardian prematurely.

The golem looked on at the two humans it was sent to protect, the apertures in its crafted head glowing green as it gazed upon Michael and Rhianna.  It lifted its right arm then, the limb altered before they had left the clandestine camp on their various missions.  Instead of an articulate hand, the equivalent of a stone cannon was fashioned there.

Michael’s eyes went wide as the golem’s eyes turned a pale red, and it leveled its weapon at them.

With a mighty foom, the cannon fired, and a projectile came soaring toward the pair of humans.  Rhianna tugged her husband to the side, though it seemed as if the white missile was bound to pass right by them anyway.

The hardened snowball whizzed by them, and struck an encroaching satyr in its chest, sending it tumbling backward.

“Well, that was terrifying,” Rhianna said.  “But it’s got our backs, it seems.  There’s no better time than now to get into that building.”

“Let’s go,” Michael said, pulling his wife over the small hillock and toward the alchemy lab.

They could hear other members of Loki’s army drawing near, and sure enough the golem fired forth more projectiles.  Just as before, a loud report rang out before a grunt or a groan or a bleat followed suit.

The couple moved along, sprinting across the area, and slipping around the massive stone creature’s side.  As they passed by, they could see the magic that afforded it its chilly ammunition.  The snow that coated the area outside of the alchemy lab rose from the ground in ghostly wisps, almost as though the golem breathed it in through grooves along its back.

“It’s a good thing the ground here is mostly snow, huh?” Michael mused, ushering his wife past their guardian before they slipped into the building.

“Keep up the good work!” Rhianna cried.

As Michael and Rhianna disappeared inside, the golem kept up its work, firing off snowy missiles at the satyrs and even a frost giant that had appeared.  Its eyes turned green then, however, as the first few blades of grass appeared beneath the many layers of frost.

The satyrs noticed the slowing speed of the golem’s firing and hurried to overrun it.

But they realized at once, that when those eyes turned green again, it was only temporary.

As the creature inhaled enough snow to launch another array of snowballs, its eyes turned red.  Some of the satyrs knew better than to move when it had locked onto a target, but others who drew close believed they could pass by it.

They thought wrong.

One after the other, the satyrs were seen by the golem, and its eyes turned red.  Only those who were clever enough to stop were spared from a solid snowball in the chest or between the eyes.

The guardian had earned Santa’s champions some time.

Inside the alchemy lab, it was far quieter—for a time.  The entrance was devoid of any signs of Loki’s army, or those denizens of the North Pole who performed their work ahead of the upcoming holiday.  But as Michael and Rhianna delved deeper into the building—a strange amalgamation of rudimentary architecture blended with gnomish craftsmanship—mechanical hissing rang out and was soon joined by a deeper bubbling sound.

“What do you think that is?” Rhianna wondered.

Michael shrugged.  “You know there’s all kinds of magic that makes Christmas possible.  There’s potions and salves and even fuel for some of Santa’s gadgets.  I’m surprised this place is still running if the folks here have been taken prisoner though.”

“It just goes to show you how dedicated they all are to making sure people have a wonderful holiday,” Rhianna mused.  “And I suppose it means they believe Santa will win through in the end.”

Michael took that hope and that faith and internalized it.  He grabbed hold of his axe in one hand and interlaced the fingers of his other hand with those of his wife, and they continued along, as silent as they could be.

It only took another few moments before they saw a warm light spill into the central corridor of the building.  The quiet was gone though, with a harsh voice carrying through an open door.

“Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll let you walk out this stinking building of your own accord,” someone growled.  “But defy me again, and the only way you’ll leave this place is if someone carries you.  No?  Very well then.”

Rhianna gulped but tightened her grip on her spear and shield.  She looked to her husband and nodded.  “We came here to help Santa’s friends and the people that bring joy to others every year, right?  Let’s help whoever is in trouble.”

Michael breathed out an anxious sigh of his own, but did as his wife suggested, stepping forward, into the light.

His next breath was caught in his throat when he spotted a gnome that looked as though he was about to be squashed between two panes of glass.  That was not his fate, however.  A grizzled, old satyr stood atop a platform, his hand on a lever.  He pulled it down, and a burst of what looked like steam erupted from the mechanisms above where the gnome was trapped.

Joining her husband there at the entrance to the room, Rhianna watched on in horror as the gnome cried out, for whatever flowed through the pipes in the room began pouring out into his glass cage.  Wisps of smoke came out of the nozzle from which the dark brown liquid churned.  But it wasn’t the scalding hot stuff it appeared to be.  The gnome pressed his face against the glass, his big nose and bulging eyes leaving him with a ridiculous visage for the moment before he realized that there were other visitors in the alchemy lab, and quite unlike those in Loki’s army.

The gnome couldn’t consider it very long before his glass case filled up over his head.  A moment later, the glass panes sank into the floor, along with the cross pieces at their edges.  The gnome remained fixed in place, trapped within a giant chocolate bar.

“It didn’t have to be this way,” the satyr said then.  “All you had to do was tell me where Santa’s camp is.”

“I know where Santa’s camp is,” a high-pitched voice rang out into the room then.  Rhianna stepped forward and stood taller, willing herself to be brave in the face of danger.

“And I know what they’re having for dinner,” Michael said then, slamming the handle of his axe into his hand.  “Lamb chops.”  He looked at his wife then, all seriousness leaving his face.  “I know they’re not the same thing, but it just sounded cool in my head.”

“What is this?” the satyr grumbled, his voice coming out sounding as though he was trying everything that he could to keep it from sounding like a guttural mess.  “If you prisoners found your freedom, you should have gone the extra step and actually escaped.”

“All part of the plan,” Michael countered.  “Besides, we’ve already got the front door of the place covered.”

That revelation seemed to shock the satyr a bit, and he stood up straighter upon hearing it.

All the while the two sides were trading verbal barbs, the gnome, encased in chocolate, looked on, his eyes clear of the sweet stuff.  Michael and the satyr went back and forth most office, but Rhianna, during bouts of quiet, looked to the encapsulated gnome, who watched his eyes dart to the side.  She looked over her shoulder, seeing nothing too out of sorts.  She realized, then, that the gnome couldn’t turn his head, and he was trying to bring her attention to something that was out of his peripheral vision.  She followed his gaze off to the side, imagining he was pointing with his finger.  Sure enough, she saw something worthy of her attention there.  A sword lay propped up against the wall of the room, just behind a control panel that was full of buttons and levers.

And the satyr was quietly, almost imperceptibly moving toward it.  As he lunged forward, Rhianna moved quicker, throwing her spear without a second thought.  The satyr thought better of his grab then, pulling his hand back as the javelin pierced through the side of the mechanical panel.

Michael froze for a moment, surprised to see his wife fling her weapon forward.  But just as soon as the satyr moved again, so did the man.

Reaching out with a furry hand, the satyr tried to pluck its weapon off the ground.  But Rhianna’s spear kept it firmly in place, locking it at the cross guard, and a tug at the pommel did nothing to relinquish the sword from the spear.  Even twisting it aside, the creature couldn’t hoist his weapon out beyond the halfway point of the blade.

The satyr had to step forward with his sword, twisting it into place to bring it to bear.  But Michael was there in an instant, swinging his axe with all his might, catching the sword before it could be wielded in combat.  The man’s weapon embedded in the floor though, and try as he did, Michael couldn’t retrieve it.

Knowing better than to keep trying for his sword, the satyr swept to the side with his rounded horns, catching Michael in the chin and knocking him back.  Michael fell from the platform, rolling forward to prevent a nasty twist in neck or any other sort of calamity.

Rhianna ran up the stairs next, still wielding an item she believed could help against their foe.  When the satyr moved to ram her, he met a shield instead, and both combatants were a bit stunned by the immensity of that blow.  Rhianna fell to her rump, while the satyr groaned, shaking the stars from his vision.

Down below, Michael collected his own bearings, climbing to his feet while rubbing his shoulder.  When he looked up and saw the satyr ready to begin a furious charge toward his wife, he looked to his side, hopeful for anything that might be able to turn the tide.  To his side, there were a wide array of confections, all kinds of different jarred candies that one might receive as a small holiday treat, from candy-coated chocolates to flavored popcorn, and brightly colored jawbreakers.  Michael’s eyes grew wide, and he thrust his hand into the jar of perfectly round candies and grabbed as many as he could in his fist.  Then, with a quick turn, he threw them at the platform above, in between his wife and the sinister satyr.

With cloven hooves, the satyr didn’t have to worry about slipping on the hard round balls, but he was still unprepared for his foot to land on one.  The little things were resilient indeed, and the satyr shifted his weight to the side, pulling a muscle in his leg.  An undulating growl escaped his lips, and he reached down to grab hold of his injured calf.

While he wrestled with his pain, Rhianna hoisted herself up with the help of a conveyer belt at her side.  Packages of fine white powder, which almost looked like snow, moved along on the conveyer belt, and the woman grabbed one of them.  It wasn’t cold when she had it in her hands, and as she considered all the other items within the lab, she realized what it was instead.  She turned then, bringing the bag of sugar over her head, and just as the satyr righted himself, she smashed him on his crown, right between the horns.  The bag tore apart at once, covering him in a smattering of white powder, and sending a small cloud of it into the air.

The satyr growled, raking at his eyes, but it was too late.  He was already blinded by the stuff.  Whipping his head back and forth, he tried to strike Rhianna, but she had backed away, safer than she was before.

“Aw,” Michael said, climbing up the steps of the platform.  “I was worried about him before, but he’s not so bad, is he?  I mean, look at that sweet face.”

“This is no time for quips!” Rhianna said, though even she had to stave off a giggle.

“Ah, don’t worry about him,” Michael said as he reached the satyr.  He gave him a little shove in his chest, and even though he was a sturdy opponent, without being able to see, he didn’t put up much fight.  He stumbled backward, catching more jawbreakers under his hooves, and grunting in pain.

As Michael worked him toward the back of the lab, Rhianna heard a noise behind her.  Worried that reinforcements might have arrived, she spun about, bringing her shield to bear.  It was only the gnome encased in chocolate, however, and he muttered something incoherent until the woman swung around to see him.

Further back in the lab, Michael saw another use for all the sugar in the room.  A large silver bin looked to be covered in cobwebs, but the man knew that they were a sweet concoction.  Though he couldn’t read the text above the dials on the round bowl—the instructions written in either gnomish or dwarvish, he surmised—he had seen such things before.  When he turned up one of the dials, he could hear the device whirr to life.  Cotton candy wisps began to fill up the basin.

The satyr, hearing the mechanical noises but unable to see what caused them, took a wild swing at Michael.  The man ducked aside, and opened the front door of the basin, then.

“Let’s see what this does.”

Michael cranked the dial up all the way, until the machine sounded like a jet engine about to explode.  Sure enough, the machine went into overdrive, a blast of cotton candy bursting from the basin and engulfing the satyr.

The goatman, thoroughly covered, and looking like a pink cloud, no longer had the same vicious look to him that he did when the visitors to the lab saw him using his scare tactics on the poor, trapped gnome.

“What did you say?” Rhianna asked the little fellow encased in chocolate.

“I shed, chie hih uh wish uh wickorish wish.”

Rhianna shook her head then.  “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’re speaking the same language.”

“Iye sheaking uh shaye yanguage yer sheaking, Iye jush shuck!” the gnome angrily replied.  “Geh uh wickorish wish.”  He said, speaking deliberately slowly to help convey his thoughts.

“What is a wickorish wish?” the woman queried.

“Uh wickorish wish!” the gnome, exasperated, cried.

“Oh, the licorice twist!” Rhianna realized, her eyes going wide with the excitement of having figured out the gnomes wishes.

“Ash uht I shed!” he declared.

As Michael spun the satyr about, coating him with more and more of the pink cotton candy, Rhianna ran to another machine, which stretched and pulled at a candy rope.  She dislodged it from the machine then and ran it over to Michael.

“We can tie him up with this,” Rhianna said.  “Between that and the fluff, we should be able to ensure he can’t do anything to warn any of his friends, and then we’ll have free reign of the lab.”

The satyr grumbled then.  But, just like the gnome, his voice was muffled by the confection he was trapped within.

Michael didn’t plan on listening to anything their foe had to say then.  After trying to find out where Santa’s camp was, the last thing they needed was to be tricked into revealing some sort of detail that the satyr could bring to Loki.

Instead, Michael took the licorice rope that his wife handed him, and, finding it more durable than it looked at first glance, he wrapped it around their foe.

“You know, satyrs are supposed to be more goatlike, but with all this cotton candy surrounding him, he’s looking kind of sheepish,” Rhianna suggested.

“I thought we weren’t doing any quips,” Michael said.

“This is different,” she replied.  “We’ve already won!”

That assessment had the satyr growling in protest.  Michael simply cinched the knot of the licorice rope tighter, eliciting a grunt from their foe instead of more incoherent words.

“Oh, he didn’t like that one, did he?” Michael asked.  “He’s going to like it a lot less when we free his little torture victim and break everyone else out of here.”

The satyr struggled with his bindings for a moment, but failing to make any progress, he sighed, and bowed his head.  Dejected, he didn’t even watch as Michael and Rhianna approached the giant chocolate bar.

“Alright, then,” Michael said.  “Let’s get you out of there, shall we?”

“I’m surprised you’re willing to let all that chocolate go to waste,” Rhianna said to her husband.  “This place is very bad for your sweet tooth.”

Michael nodded.  “The only thing giving me pause is that this outfit that Santa gave me is already feeling a little tight,” he said, patting his stomach.  “I don’t need to be busting out of my furs right in the middle of a huge battle.”

“That’s fair,” Rhianna said.  “But maybe we could come back here after the battle,” she teased.

The gnome grumbled and tried to speak, but he was so exasperated, the husband-and-wife duo couldn’t hope to understand anything he offered up.

“Just hold on a minute,” Rhianna said.  “This stuff is pretty sturdy.”

Together, she and her husband began snapping off pieces of the chocolate bar until the gnome’s limbs were free.  He began lending a hand as well, mostly scrapping away the stuff by his face.

“Ah, it’s good to breathe out of more than just a thin line near my lips,” the gnome said then.  “You two mentioned you were sent by Santa?”

“In a manner of sorts,” Michael confirmed.  “Can you walk on your own?”

The gnome took a few steps forward, though the chocolate still stuck to his limbs left him unable to bend his knees, and he ended up looking quite strange in his movements.  “I can move well enough to escape from this darned place!”

Michael clicked his tongue and scratched the back of his neck.  “Actually, that wasn’t quite what we had in mind.”

Rhianna clasped her hands together and took in a deep breath.  “We could use your help.”

*          *          *

With a crack of a whip, the laborers were coerced into working faster, even though the weapon hadn’t drawn close to any of them.  One of the elves still bore a welt on their arm from that strike that stung just from moving quickly, as if the breeze given off from their movement sent an icy touch upon his skin.

The human beside the cauldron grumbled as he worked, not pleased in the slightest to be using his staff to stir the slimy, sticky substance—not at all what was supposed to be in the cauldron, he knew.

“Blast it all,” the fellow said, stopping what he was doing, and stepping to the side, his prized staff in hand.  He shook it off, not bothering to care about the consequences.

“Put that back in there,” one of their captors said, pointing to the staff.  The satyr was white furred, almost looking as though the snow had fully covered him, and he was unable to remove it.  Still, that pure look did nothing to stave off the fearsome look of the creature.  Just like his curved horns, his spear looked dangerous.  As it came prodding toward the laborer who dared to step out of line, the wielder slammed the weapon to the side, the metal banging off the cauldron with a resonating blow.  “Go on,” the satyr said.  “Or else we’ll grind your bones to paste and throw you in there as well.”

On the opposite side of the room, the other satyr, a female with tawny fur and silver hooves and horns cracked the whip, more for the fun of it than to scare any of their prisoners.  She paced the room, bored with their task.  The satyrs had, after all, taken the alchemy lab with very little resistance.  She knew that it was an integral part of Loki’s plan, and that it would behoove them to keep the rabble working.

“I won’t use my staff anymore,” the man said.  His sudden boldness has the other prisoners halting their work as well, though it was more in horror at their companions’ brazen behavior.  “If you want me to stir up whatever it is we have here, go and fetch me something I can use that hasn’t been in my possession for nearly half my life.”

The white satyr spit on the ground, drawing uncomfortable looks from the captives.  “You can make a choice here: either you care about your staff, which you’ve had for almost fiftey years, or you can take more care of yourself, considering you’ve known yourself all your life.”

“Duly noted,” the man said.  “But I think I’ll still not be mixing with this.”

“Raskagar!” one of the other captives pleaded.  “Don’t make them madder than they are.”

It wasn’t the satyrs that scared him into compliance.  The wizard couldn’t help but consider his friend’s fears, and he bowed his head then, grumbling as he moved back into place.

Before he could set his staff back into the cauldron, he was surprised to see another captive standing in the doorway of the chamber.

The little gnome looked to be stained by dirt, his hair tousled where it wasn’t matted, yet he had a look of conviction on his face.

The white furred satyr caught the sudden widening of the wizard’s eyes and spun about.  The gnome tried to skitter out of view, but he wasn’t fast enough, it seemed.

“An intruder!” the goatman hollered, catching his companion’s attention.  He charged toward the exit of the room, his hooves resonating against the floorboards and echoing out into the corridor.

When he emerged from the vat room, he didn’t see the pair of humans skulking in the shadows, his only focus on the gnome who ran as fast as his legs would carry him, toward the exit of the building.

Michael and Rhianna heard another pair of approaching hooves, and the woman swung out with her spear, just as the tawny furred satyr emerged into the hallway.  As the spear struck her across the chest, momentum took her backward, spilling her to the ground.  Rhianna moved at once, smacking her atop the head, ensuring she wouldn’t be conscious of their plans for liberation.

Beside her, Michael stepped around until he could glance at her, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise.  “How is it that you, with know situational awareness, managed to pull that off?”

“I don’t know,” Rhianna said with a shrug.  “Christmas magic?”

“Rhianna?” they heard from inside the chamber then.  “Michael?”  Raskagar ceased what he was doing and hurried around the vats until he reached the entrance to the room.  “What are you two doing here?  Where’s the rest of your family?”

“They’re okay,” Michael said.  “We’ve even got a new pup to introduce you to.  But we’re here on a mission for Santa, and they’re off performing very important tasks of their own.”

“So, you came here to rescue everyone from the clutches of those furry beasts?” the wizard wondered.

“We came here specifically for you,” Rhianna explained.  “Lest you not forget, you were a furry beast at one point as well.”

“Though, perhaps a touch smaller,” Michael teased.

“Yes, yes,” the Raskagar conceded.  “I must admit some days I wake up and still feel as though I have whiskers upon my face.”  He stroked his white beard and mustache then.  “Well, much longer whiskers, that is.”  He turned and waved on the other captives, a collection of elves and dwarves and gnomes that were relieved to find their prison turned to a sanctuary.  “If you’re here for me, you must already have a plan.  Care to let me in on the details?”

“Of course,” Rhianna said.  “But we should whisper it so that nobody else can hear, just in case.”

*          *          *

The gnome burst from the doors of the laboratory, surprised to see the massive golem before him, even though his rescuers had revealed that he was present.  Satyrs, and even the mighty frost giant were lying down in the snow, nursing aching chests and heads.  The apertures where the golem’s eyes would be glowed green again, and even when it saw Santa’s foes writhing on the ground, it didn’t invite any other further violence upon them.

“Hey, you!” the gnome cried out to the large, stone creature.  “Michael and Rhianna said that if I needed help, you would help.  Well… Help!”

The golem shuffled about, sentient, and intelligent enough to look to where the gnome pointed.

When the white furred satyr came barreling out of the laboratory, his focus was so intense on the gnome, that he didn’t notice the tall pillars that framed the gnome.  The diminutive fellow couldn’t help but smile then, as he pointed up toward his large, unexpected ally.

The satyr looked up, just in time to see the green eyes turn a pale red.

With a mighty swat, the golem sent the goat man flying, a cry that sounded more like a bleat ringing out into the night.

“Alright, now these next people coming out of the lab ought to be our friends,” the gnome said.  “No smacking anyone else, okay?”

Before long, some of the other people that the gnome worked with did in face exit the laboratory and gasped at the sight of the large golem.  He didn’t look to be ready to cause any trouble then, even taking a few giant steps back to allow some room for those people who had just been liberated.  At the end of the procession, the golem saw the two humans he traveled with, and he fell to one knee, eager to witness them return safely.

Raskagar was with them as well, stuffing his hands into his pockets to ensure they had everything they needed—both to get them back to Santa’s camp, and to help in the long battle to come.

“Now, you’re sure this is going to work?” Michael asked.

The wizard twitched his snow-white mustache then.  “Now when have I ever steered you wrong?  Of course, this will work.  That is, assuming our friend here can handle throwing more than just snowballs.”

“Well, it’s certainly not what he was designed for, but he’s beginning to learn things awfully quick,” Rhianna said.  “So, what do you say?” she asked the golem.  “Do you want to try and design something a little different?”

The golem’s eyes changed color then, and for the split second that the green faded away, Rhianna felt close to panicking, wondering if his magic had been altered in some way.  But his eyes didn’t transform into that familiar, frightening red, but a cool blue that was accentuated by the reflection of the snow beneath his large stone feet.

“Looks like he’s open to the suggestion at least,” Raskagar said.  “Why don’t you make sure you have everything you need and prepare everyone else for our exit, and I’ll try to make our preparations with the golem?”

Michael and Rhianna agreed with that suggestion, and Michael headed over to the folk that they had liberated.  “While all of Loki’s people are nursing their injuries, you’ve got some choices to make.  You could either rope them up the way they did you, or…”

While he went on, explaining the options to the former captives, Rhianna approached the little gnome who was once captured in an oversized chocolate bar.

“I wanted to thank you for being so brave, even after everything that happened to you,” she said.  “Things could have gone very differently in there if you weren’t there to help.”

The gnome chuckled.  “I have to admit, for a few moments, I was definitely planning on just running out the door.  But when you told me who you were, knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to help.”

“Well, you’re one of Santa’s champions now, too,” Rhianna said.  “But you know, with how chaotic everything was in there, we never learned your name.”

“Me?” he said, excited that the people he had learned about over the last half-decade wanted to know more about him.  “I’m Quarrick.  This day will go down in history as one of my favorites!”

“Ours too,” Rhianna said, patting him on the shoulder.  “Especially when we win!”

Michael came up alongside his wife then and gave her a little squeeze.  “A few of them are going to stay behind and try to wrangle up the satyrs while they have the golem here.  The rest are going to head to safety.”  The man turned his attention to the gnome then.  “Quarrick, was it?”  He extended his hand to the little fellow.  “Thank you for your help in there.”

Quarrick, eager to shake hands with his new friend, couldn’t stop his smile from growing larger.  “Glad to be of assistance.  But I must say, I’m going to be heading out with those who are looking for safety.  I think I had a good run of luck today, and I don’t need to press it!”

“Probably a good decision indeed,” Rhianna said.

The three of them heard Raskagar clear his throat then, and when they turned, they spotted him standing beside the golem, who had dropped to one knee, and balanced on the limb that had some resemblance to a hand.

“I think we’ve come to an understanding,” the wizard said.  “Are you two ready to head back to the camp?”

Michael breathed out a sigh but nodded.  “I’m not enthusiastic about going up against his army again—last time I did almost get turned into a pincushion—but I’m eager to put all this behind us.”

“And to see the babies again,” Rhianna said.  “I hope they’re all okay.”

“Well, we’ll be seeing them shortly, I assure you,” Raskagar said.  The wizard turned to everybody else then, clasping his hands together.  “My friends, there’s a bit of magic that is going to be taking place here in a moment, and not all of it is under my control.  I’d ask that you take a few steps back while our friend here uses his power to make something a little bigger than a snowball.”

As the freed captives did as they were told, snow from far beyond where the golem stood began to lift into the air, swirling about and affecting visibility.  Ochre grass could be seen for the first time in months as the flakes of snow funneled into the lines on the stone creature’s back.  Once a large area around the laboratory was clear, the golem began the creation process.  Instead of the foom sound that preceded the launch of a snowball, there was almost an electric buzz in the air.  A cylindrical tube emerged from where the golem’s cannon arm opened up, and from there, a new shape began to form.

While the golem worked, it began to teeter just a bit, the magic it created sapping it of its energy enough that the wizard and the other two humans could not help but notice.  Raskagar was beside the golem, helping to shape the snow and convert it into hardier ice.

Soon after, the husband-and-wife duo were surprised to see the snow take the form of a bench.

“I expected something a bit less refined,” Michael said, impressed with the workmanship.

“You’ve done well,” Rhianna said, tapping the golem on his leg.

“Well, I may have had something to do with it,” Raskagar said.  “But yes, a lot of it comes down to our friend here, and of course I couldn’t do the next part on my own.”

“And you’re sure it’s going to work?” Michael wondered.

Raskagar scoffed.  “Well of course I haven’t tested it, but I’ve never second-guessed my magic before.  And even though our golem friend here is new to me, he’s certainly used his powers to some effect.  My spells bolstered his design, and here we are.”  The wizard’s eyes went wide for a moment.  He took his hand and rooted it around in a pocket in his robe.  “I almost forgot.”  He slammed down his palm across the back of the bench then.  When he moved it, Michael and Rhianna saw the carefully folded candy wrapper there.

“What was going to happen if we didn’t have that?” Rhianna wondered, folding her arms over her chest.

“That’s neither here nor there,” Raskagar declared.  “All is right now, except none of us have planted our rears on this bench.”

Michael was the first to sit down, although he instantly popped back up, blowing air out through his lips.  “Whoa that’s cold.”

“It’s frozen solid, as I had told you,” the wizard insisted.

“Yeah, but you didn’t say we would be too.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” Rhianna said.  She sat down as well, then, only she didn’t climb back out of the seat.  Her eyes did grow wider though.

“I’ve got to say,” Michael remarked, “I’m surprised you’re still sitting.  You’re certainly stronger than I give you credit for.”

“It’s not that,” Rhianna said.  “I’ve frozen to the seat!”

Her husband hurried to sit down next to her, and started rubbing her hands and shoulders, trying to warm her up.  “I think we’ve committed to this course,” he said.  “But it’ll only be a short while, right Raskagar?”

The wizard nodded, and turned about, bunching up his robe to sit upon.  Even so, his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he felt the cold against his garments.

“Colder than you expected?” Michael asked from the middle seat.

“What I wouldn’t give to have a bit of fur on my body again,” Raskagar said.  “And I apologize, but things are going to have to get just a bit more uncomfortable.”  As he finished speaking, he teetered his staff to the side, and Michael and Rhianna squeezed back a bit as a frigid bar of ice extended across the front of the bench, locking them in place.

“Does the North Pole have it’s first roller coaster?” Rhianna wondered through chattering teeth.

“Yeah, only it doesn’t have a track,” Michael suggested.

“A track?” the wizard asked.  “Where we’re going, we don’t need a track.  Alright, Rahm,” Raskagar used the creature’s namesake as he passed a glance to the golem.  “Send us to Santa’s camp.”

Just as before, when the golem was creating the bench, a series of hums began to reverberate, until every one of them sounded like the noise he made when he blasted snowballs at the satyrs earlier.  Rhianna watched as little bits of snow puffed off the bench, and she could feel vibrations all around her.

“Is it too late to get off this ride?” she mused.

“Something makes me think it—”  Before Michael could fathom the rest of his response, a larger foom than they had heard before was joined by what sounded like glass shattering behind them.  His breath was stolen away as they took to the sky, and he couldn’t push anymore words out then.

Beside him, Rhianna cheered in excitement.  With an exuberant smile upon her face, she turned about, and looked back at the laboratory, and all the people they had helped.  They all waved, and she spotted Quarrick first, the little gnome jumping up and down and waving both hands.  And just beside him, Rahm, the giant golem, waved his one articulate hand as well.

Michael looked to his side, watching the old wizard’s stringy white hair press back in the wind.  Raskagar held a tight grip on his staff, though he slowly brought it back, weaving it between he and Michael.

With a single tap of his magical implement, the trio felt a huge backward force on the bench—enough that it felt as though they were being pushed back toward the laboratory.  A moment later though, they understood what had happened.  The candy wrapper which Raskagar had fixed to the bench had expanded, taking the form of a giant glider that would make their journey far less dangerous.

A relieved sigh escaped Raskagar’s lips then.  “Now this is definitely the way to travel,” the wizard said.  “Could you imagine if everyone could get about this way?”

Michael and Rhianna giggled at the wizard’s revelation.

“That would be something,” Rhianna said.

“Only a short while until we reach Santa’s camp,” Michael remarked a few moments later.  “Once we all finish our tasks, we’ll be ready to go, and we can take down Loki once and for all.”

Raskagar offered up a solemn nod.  He knew there was much he had to do upon their arrival.  The wizard reached up then, and grabbed the underside of the makeshift glider, steering it toward the ground a little quicker.  With only a short time before Christmas, he knew his services were of the utmost importance.

*          *          *

Sunlight shone down upon the snow and the sea, and all the ice that had once frozen the bay solid had melted once again.  Santa and Nanna stood atop the cliff that their guests had once arrived upon, and they looked over the region, knowing that their earlier skirmish would be nothing compared to what was to come.

A missive arrived on the path leading from their camp.  “Everyone has arrived,” the young elf declared.  “Well, except for one, but their allies returned a short while ago.  Should I send out a—?”

A battle horn echoed in the distance, and Santa knew that the time for peace was quickly diminishing.  Loki wouldn’t be sending his troops across the bay again, but around the loop of the land, and there was nothing that anyone could to stop them.

Or at least, that would be the case if the DeAngelo family had not been successful in their quest to find allies.

For almost as soon as Santa saw satyrs charging through the woods, their fur appearing atop the green canvas of the rows of evergreen trees, the first of Santa’s reinforcements arrived.

A pack of reindeer galloped through across the shore, some splashing into the icy waters as though they did not have a care in the world.  Leading the pack was a reindeer who had a small, auburn-furred dog holding tight to the reins, gripping them in her mouth.  While Zelda offered up incoherent cheers and motivation, it was the other members of the pack that would help to win the day, surely.

Nanna pointed to the number of reindeer that followed Svetlana into battle, noting that elven archers rode atop their backs, already drawing their bowstrings taut.  A few arrows were loosed, screeching through the woods.  Some hit the evergreens, while others met their marks, striking the satyrs.  Just as it has been before on the frozen water of the bay though, a deep red outline marked them before they fell—or in the rare occasion, simply stumbled backward.

Santa’s swelling confidence took a blow the next moment when he realized that Loki had been scrounging up his own allies during the brief respite they had found in battle.  Blue-faced yetis bounded through the trees, growling and roaring as they broke toward Santa’s troops and the rapidly progressing reindeer.

“They haven’t come this far south from their sanctuary in years,” Nanna said.

“Decades, perhaps,” Santa agreed.  “We are lucky to have had the little one fetch Svetlana and her friends.  They may turn the tide.”

As Svetlana met the lead yeti, she lowered her head, cracking her skull against its face.

“Don’t worry,” Zelda cried below, still holding tight to the reins with her teeth.  “I’ll give you a nice head massage later!”

While the action unfolded in the forest, the elf who had come to deliver news of the battle to Santa pointed toward the shore on the northeastern side of the bay.  Sure enough, there Santa and his wife saw more of Loki’s troops encroaching.  With the satyrs and yetis entrenched in the forest, it came down to Loki’s frost giants to press toward Santa’s camp then.

But Santa had his own troops ready to make the journey around the bay.  A detachment of gnomes and dwarves charged forth, even in sight of those large opponents.  From afar, the frost giants hurled log and boulders, trying to flatten the members of Santa’s army.

Just as before, with the grappling hook that struck Michael, a wintry blue shield appeared atop one his armor as a tremendous log struck him.  He was knocked to the ground, but he was able to breathe out a sigh of relief when he found himself able to climb to his feet again.  Just as he hoisted himself off the ground and dusted off his clothes and his armor, another projectile soared over head.

That time, it was from behind the front lines, and when the dwarves and gnomes found about it, they nearly cheered in unison.

They looked behind them, expecting to see another feat of Santa’s mechanical marvels.  But they didn’t see any catapults or trebuchets.  Instead, what they saw were giants of the northern reaches, come to help against a common enemy.  Rurnar and his brethren slung stones and barrels, various liquids splashing up against the frost giants, or even passing through to the woods and smashing atop a fierce yeti before it could take a mighty swing at a rushing reindeer.

Along with Rurnar, it seemed Halgrum and Beroras had taken to the battlefield, the delegates bringing with them their own attachment of their kinsmen.  Though Santa certainly couldn’t see his adopted brother, he imagined the other member of the Aesir looking a bit panicked by the sight of all the troops that Santa had begun to amass.

Before he could turn to his wife and express any building confidence, he was surprised to see a black and white blur take to the shore below.  He was familiar with that sight and knew that Maisie had once again taken a hold of the magical pendant that she had swallowed years before.  Even from that far vantage point, when she took a moment to reconcile where she was on the battlefield, Santa could see that she had it tied around her neck like a collar, and that they wouldn’t have to go, and grab hold of it after she was done with it as her family had once before.

The little dog panted, looking into the forest.  While she had enhanced speed and strength, her stamina was only marginally improved, and as much as she liked to rib Zelda for running out of energy too soon after a walk, she had to admit that it was a lot of work bringing their allies back down from the north.  Still, she wasn’t about to let a little fatigue prevent her from helping her family and her friends.

Maisie bolted into the forest, knocking down a yeti before it could throw a wild swing at a nearby reindeer.  When Maisie was sure the creature was knocked down, she turned to regard the reindeer and her companion.  It didn’t take long for her to realize that it was Zelda who rode upon the legendary reindeer’s back.

“That one was mine,” Maisie teased.

Zelda grumbled, but never let the reins fall from her clenched jaws.  She tugged the red strap to the side, urging her friend deeper into the woods.  “Come on, Svetlana,” she said.  “Let’s find another one to beat up.”

Nanna gripped her husband’s hand, happy to see the tide had changed in their favor.  Before she could offer up any words of encouragement though, she watched as a pale blue zephyr passed through the area.  Just as earlier that day, they watched as the water in the bay began to freeze over.  Without any of Santa’s ships crossing the distance to the other side though, she wondered what the reason for the spell might be.

But then, she spotted something that she could not have expected in all her time living in the North Pole with her husband.  There before them, on the distant shore of the bay, was an army who wore armor that she had not seen in some time.  More pristine than anything the inhabitants of the North Pole wore, they seemed to almost gleam in the morning light.

Nanna grabbed her husband’s arm and steered his attention in that direction.

“The Aesir,” Santa said, his mouth dropping open when he saw his people in the land that he had made his home so many centuries before.  “How did Loki manage to convince them to come here?”

“The trickster knows how to work his magic,” Nanna said.  “But even so, this is our land.  If anyone knows it and how to protect it, it’s us.”

A horn blew three times, and at once, all of Loki’s troops ceased their attacks.  The yetis, satyrs, and frost giants almost seemed to freeze, as though the aurora that the god cast over the bay had worked on them too.  Their shields held fast though, perhaps even strengthening, because bold red glowing illuminated the forest when a reindeer struck a yeti, or an elven arrow met its mark and reached a satyr.  Those empowered shields kept the intruder god’s troops standing, and Santa and Nanna realized that they had underestimated their foe yet again.

“Brother!” a voice called out then.  It was the same one they had heard earlier that day when the first attempt to breach the distant shores failed, and their longships were nearly stolen.
“We don’t have to do this.  If you simply have your friends lay down their arms, this will be a quick transfer of power, and no one would risk being hurt.”  Unlike before, where the voice was disembodied, Santa and Nanna watched as a distant figure strode forward, to stand in front of the other Aesir.  He had red hair that looked like his head had been lit aflame for a time.  Even after all that time—and from that distance—neither could forget Loki’s fiery mane.

“Come and parlay with me,” the god who they once fled called out, his voice carrying loudly across the bay as though he was right there beside him.  “It has been so long.  I only wish to speak with you.”

Nanna turned to her husband then and nodded.  “It’s time.”  She squeezed his hand, and he turned to regard her.  “If we are going to try to do this, it has to be now.”

“There will be no transfer of power,” Santa said then, more to himself and his wife than to those who stood beside him.  But then he stepped forward, nearly to the edge of the cliff face.  “There will be no transfer of power!” he repeated, loud enough that he was certain those who fought on Loki’s behalf heard.  “There shall never be a Christmas that I allow to pass that isn’t filled with joy.  You may have found your way to my home, my land, and my workshop, but you will not keep it.  You want to meet again after all these years?  Then let us meet on the battlefield!”

Santa jumped down from the cliff, landing on the ground below upon bent legs as though the fall was meaningless.  Those dwarves and gnomes, elves and giants that surrounded him gave a mighty cheer when they saw that he had joined them.  And then, unsheathing his mighty sword, Santa strode forward.  The rest of his troops gave charge then as well, except for one.

Nanna whipped her hand about, a series of sparkles whipping around her upturned limb.  A small swarm of multicolored lumibugs fluttered about, glowing like a moving string of Christmas lights.  Nanna narrowed her eyes, focusing on one golden insect, which flew at the end of the procession.

“Go now,” she whispered.  “Loki will be too focused on the battle to notice you until it is too late.  Your passage should be clear.”

Together, the swarm followed behind the charging army, blinking every so often, high above the skirmish below.  The one with the golden glow, flagging just a bit behind, flew a bit lower as well.  Behind it, a shrunken sleigh trailed it, attached with miniaturized reins.  A trio of humans rode upon the small vehicle, clutching tightly to the frame.

“You’ve outdone yourself, Raskagar,” Michael said.  “We’ll likely pass right by everyone with no one thinking better for it.”

The wizard held a hand over his stomach while he leaned forward from the backseat.  The flight was a little less steady than he had hoped, even though the insect was able to carry the extra weight that the sleigh and its passengers represented.  In front of him, Rhianna reacted the same, for a time, before her eyes shot open and she reached into the pockets of her outfit.

“Here,” she said, handing a candy over to Raskagar.  “I took them from the laboratory earlier.  I figured they’re ginger, I’m ginger, it just makes sense.”

“And this will set my stomach straight?” the wizard asked.

“As will a look toward the horizon,” Michael confirmed.

Raskagar groaned. “When we get a little closer, I’ll help the wee bug out.  Remember, we don’t want to go completely unnoticed.”

“Right,” Rhianna said, feeling better the moment she chewed on the candy.  “Because we need to convince Loki to chase us.”

“Well, at the rate our little friend here is moving, the battle is going to be over before we reach the other side of the bay,” Michael mused.  “Are you sure you found us a fast enough lumibug?”

“Careful,” Raskagar teased.  “That bug might be hungry enough to eat you as a snack.  We don’t have to reach Loki first.  We just have to reach him around the time the other lumibugs pass.”

“But they’re all so much farther ahead of us,” Michael explained, gesturing toward the open air before them.

“They won’t be for long,” Raskagar said, suddenly feeling energized after chewing on the ginger candy.  “But let’s not let that distract us.  In fact, we may have some distracting we can do ourselves.”

Below, a satyr charged with his spear at the ready.  He swept low, catching an elf off their guard, and pulling them from their feet.  With his hooves tapping against the icy ground, the satyr hopped up and over a dwarf, and jabbed him with the blunt end of his weapon, briefly activating the blue shield that protected him.  The satyr turned about again, that time looking upon a gnome who looked in over his head.  The diminutive fellow quivered at the sight of the approaching goatman, but neither saw the strange light that seemed to fall from one of the passing lumibugs above.  A light blues streak of color followed behind the white light, and a little hum accompanied it.

The satyr didn’t hear it, nor did he see it as it fell toward him.  As he raised his spear, it seemed he might have been the first one to pierce one of the magical shields throughout the encounter.

But as the light landed upon his head, it was as though a bolt of lightning had struck him from the heavens.  The blue streak quickly followed suit, racing toward where the light hand landed.  At once, a flash stole away the satyr’s vision, and he howled from the quick shock he received.

The gnome, seeing his opportunity, leapt forward, stabbing with a little dagger that was caught by the satyr’s crimson shield.  The goatman would survive those quick jabs, but they, too, stung, and he danced backward as the gnome kept rushing forward.

All along the lumibug’s path, more of those little streaks of light shone out, and more of Loki’s troops were quick to feel the sudden pains that the light preceded.

Not everything was going well for Santa and his troops, however.  While Loki lingered at the other side of the bay, the warrior Aesir he traveled to the North Pole with ventured onto the ice.  Santa planned on meeting them there, and he was joined by an attachment of dwarves and elves.

The Aesir demonstrated early that they were no mere mortals.  Their prowess in battle seemed unmatched as they struck down one enemy, and then the next, avoiding strike after strike during the first several minutes they were on the ice.

In the woods, Santa’s forces had diminished, with some retreating to lick their wounds, while others had spun about to join their leader in his fight against his old kinsmen.

Maisie watched as Svetlana charged into a yeti, lowering her head to drive her antlers forward.  The reindeer bristled once the yeti tumbled back, and she snorted, sending a cloud of steam into the air.  As another yeti barreled in, Maisie set to work, skittering forward quick as she could with the help of her magical amulet.  As the yeti set its sights on Svetlana and the little auburn-furred dog atop her, it pounded its chest like a gorilla.  Svetlana turned to regard it just as it resumed its rush.

But it would never reach it.  Maisie leapt into the air, lowering her head.  She knocked into its chest, sending it flying back a dozen feet between two sturdy pine trees, needles falling from their branches as the yeti crashed through the cover.

Maisie landed on her feet, but the headbutt disoriented her.  She shook her head and panted a bit as she came to terms with the tremendous efforts she had offered up.  A new shadow loomed over the small black-and-white dog, and she only just noticed the darkness that surrounded her.

“Look out Maisie!” Zelda cried.  She finally let go of the reins, and hopped off Svetlana’s back, landing upon the nearby satyr’s face before it could bring down its long halberd.  Though Zelda flexed her fingers, and her claws were curled up, she found a red shield instead of the satyr’s skin or its fur.  She couldn’t keep her composure and she tottered off the creature, spilling to the cold ground below.

Though the satyr stumbled back a step, he was not deterred.  Instead, he found a new target, lifting his crude polearm to punish the little mutt for her interference.

For a moment, Zelda wondered if she had a shield like everyone else.  Would hers activate in time?  Would it be enough even if it did?

As the halberd came down, Zelda felt a little pinch around her neck.  Then, her vision began to spin.

“I got you,” Maisie said, though Zelda’s scruff was still between her teeth.

Together, the pair of them looked on, for when the satyr’s halberd met with only the frozen earth below, he left himself open for a fierce kick from Svetlana.  The shield fluttered and broke, and they heard the deep grunt that left the goatman’s lips as he flew across the area, smacking against the trunk of a nearby tree.

Though the reindeer had found vengeance for her friend, she was quickly surrounded by his allies.  Svetlana spun about, bucking like a wild horse as a quartet of satyrs and yetis inched toward her.  She grunted and whined, kicking when they came close, but they kept their distance, wary of her power.

“Svetlana!” Zelda whimpered.

“It’s alright,” Maisie said.  “I’ll help her.”  The other little pup took a few steps forward, and collapsed into the snow, too exhausted to take another step.

“Maisie!” Zelda cried then, running to her sister’s side.  “What do we do?” she asked, even though she saw Maisie’s eyes fluttering, and she knew the other dog was struggling to stay awake.  “I don’t know what to do.”

All around her, other reindeer spilled to the ground, and elves were knocked off their mounts as Loki’s troops overwhelmed them.  Zelda turned to the north to see if Santa and his troops fared any better.  While Santa easily fended off the horde of satyrs and Aesir, his troops showed their fatigue, and their foes showed their prowess.  More than one dwarf was knocked into the air only to fall back down upon the icy, shattering it before sinking into the shallow, frigid waters beneath.

Zelda nuzzled up against Maisie, nudging her with her nose, worried that all was lost.

Another horn sounded in the distance, and the two dogs wondered if it was Loki, calling for his victory, knowing that the residents of the North Pole had been bested.  Even his troops stopped then, however, for none on the battlefield could determine who the signal belonged to.

A moment later, a frightening screech echoed throughout the bay.  It was like a banshee had come to exact her rage on both sides of the skirmish.

But it didn’t take long for the troops to realize who would benefit from the new arrivals.

Peanut skidded on the ice, her traction failing as she adjusted the way she leaned.  Behind her, towering dire penguins chased after her, chomping their beaks as though they were trying to swallow the feline whole.

“We had a deal!” Peanut growled as she slipped the other way.  “A year’s supply of the stuff, if only you’d fight for us.”

One of the penguins slid on its stomach, its pace improved substantially.  It nearly thumped into the cat, but she leapt high into the air, bouncing off the feral bird’s rump.

“Alright, fine then!” she yowled.  “Then onto the backup plan.”  She turned about, almost spinning a pirouette like an ice dancer.  When she found a familiar gnome upon the cliffside, she jumped up again, waving her arms with great enthusiasm.  “Send the barrels!” she ordered.  “Send them before I become a snack!”

The gnome and his allies up above launched their war machines, slinging barrels across the battlefield.  Santa’s troops had taken advantage of the distractions, but Loki’s Aesir watched as projectiles flew across the bay toward them.  Most knew well enough where they were going to land, and dodged out of the way, but one unfortunate warrior raised his axe to fend off a foe instead of looking skyward.

When the barrels crashed against the ice—or the poor, shortsighted combatant—they fell apart, releasing the liquid inside.  The brine that the fiskeblugen once sat within covered patches of the icy bay, leaving those warriors close to them to gag and cough at the overpowering odor.  The Aesir who was covered in the stuff fell to his hands and knees, heaving to try and empty his stomach.

The foremost penguin, who had passed the cat, set its gaze at the smelly liquid not so far away then, and slid on its belly toward that point of the battlefield.  But the penguins who had not ventured to travel in that manner still had their focus on the cat.

“You’re not supposed to come after me,” she hissed.  “I was only drenched in the fiskeblugen to get you to follow me here.  Now you’re supposed to…”  Her words trailed off, and her gaze fell upon a part of the ice that had cracked open, leaving just enough room for her to leap in.  “I always swore I’d never take a bath again after the vat of fiskeblugen,” she wistfully said.  “This is a sad day indeed.”

Wasting no time, Peanut didn’t hesitate to hop into the water.  And though it was cold, she knew better than to leap right back out.  She paused just long enough for the dire penguins, standing taller than Santa, to swing their focus toward something else instead.  As more briny barrels soared across the sky, they moved toward Loki’s side of the battlefield, eager to feast.

The cat finally crawled out of the frigid waters, shivering the whole way, and looking more like a bilge rat than a feline with elegant fur.  Just as she was about to curl into a bawl and shiver herself into oblivion, she noticed an aurora of orange and yellow above her head.  At once, she felt warmth surrounding her, and when she looked in the nearby waters, she could see that her fur fluffed up enough to make her look just as silly.

“It’s fine,” she grumbled.  “At least I’m warm.”

Not so far away, she heard some troubled barking, and turned to regard it.  Zelda stood next to a tree, barking into the darkness a few feet away.  Peanut, curious, pranced in that direction, noticing the notes of fear in her sister’s yipping.  As the cat drew closer, she saw what looked like a pile of snow on the ground beside Zelda.  Then, she saw the black spots intermingled with the white coat and knew that it was Maisie.

With all the chaos unfolding around them, Peanut didn’t see the younger dog’s shallow, tired breaths, only her limp body on the ground.

A feral yowl escaped from Peanut’s mouth, and her eyes narrowed, for she saw the vague outline of some of Loki’s troops in the woods beyond where Zelda was, the scared dog still barking into the shadows betwixt the trees.

Peanut, even as old as she was, flexed her muscles, and felt her claws unsheathe.  She didn’t hesitate as she bolted forward, passing Zelda.

While Loki’s troops wailed on Svetlana, watching the blue shield that surrounded her fade from the bold cobalt it had been to a dusky cornflower color, none knew that the little cat had set her sights on them.

Peanut leapt into the air, no care for her achy muscles, or the size difference between her and the yetis and satyrs.  She landed upon the face of a yeti first, scratching enough that a shade of red diminished every other second.  Though the creature was mostly feral, it knew that its shield would not last long, and its eyes went wide in shock.  Just as it heard a shattering sound, and the shield dissipated entirely, it brought its hands to its face, pushing the cat off.

Peanut landed on the ground upon her feet, and she bounced off the cold snow, already finding another target.  A satyr stood not far from her, slamming the butt of his halberd into the fallen reindeer’s side, eager to see her shield fail as well.  But he had his back to the incensed cat and didn’t notice as she charged at his leg.

With just as much rage guiding her, Peanut raked at his leg over and over.  With his gaze drawn to the reindeer, he didn’t understand why his shield was failing.  But he surely felt why a moment later.  As his shield broke, the cat at his heel yowled—his only warning before she sank her teeth into his leg just above his hoof.

The satyr screamed at the top of his lungs, and skittered forward, bounding between the trees to find some sort of salvation.  His three remaining allies—a shieldless yeti, and an unharmed satyr and yeti that didn’t know any better—followed suit a moment later when they saw the hissing cat where the goatman once stood.

Svetlana, finally free of her aggressors, still lay on the ground, for her fright compelled her there, and she carried more fatigue than she showed.

Zelda, barked from her spot a few feet away, and Svetlana looked in the little pup’s direction.  Though Zelda desperately wanted to run up to her friend and nuzzle her, she found she couldn’t leave her sister’s side.

Peanut looked to the fallen dog and began to trot up beside her and the other one.  It wasn’t until she drew close that she realized that Maisie’s eyes were open.  The cat hurried her steps then, and when she finally reached the pup, she nuzzled her head against Maisie’s chin.

“I’m okay,” the tired dog said.  “Just a little worn out.  I don’t know how Zelda plays fetch all day when she can’t walk a few blocks without begging to be picked up.”

While Peanut found a comfy spot to sit beside Maisie, Zelda watched as Svetlana labored to stand.  The reindeer shook her head, and when she finally felt sturdy ground beneath her, she grunted.  The other reindeer who traveled with her to help Santa grunted out as well then, the forest full of their sounds.

Zelda panted in excitement then and turned to regard her older sister.  “Thank you Peanut!  You saved the day!”

The cat wore a scowl still, but when Zelda looked away, that angry gaze softened, just a bit.

Not so far away, Santa swung his sword, knocking a satyr back onto the ice with enough power that the goatman lost his footing, and fell to his back, sliding back a few feet.  The once-jolly fellow felt another presence beside him then, and brought his hefty blade to bear once more, but he stayed his hand, for he knew he would hear no end of it if he swung against his wife.

“We’re beginning to falter,” he said.

“Nonsense,” Nanna replied.  “We’re evenly matched, now, and might even be winning.  And our final card has yet to be played.”

“Can you see them?” Santa asked.  “Are they still on their way?”

Nanna looked across the battlefield, and her eyes glowed golden.  While everything else in her vision seemed to turn to grey and draw out of focus, the flickers of light that shone in different colors seemed more vibrant than ever, and it was as if she stood right beside them a few moments later.  She watched as the lumibugs fluttered over Loki’s troops, and toward the Aesir who commanded them all.

Loki looked in Nanna’s direction then, as though he could see her through all the rabble—as though he could see her there right beside him, looking at the swarm of bugs.

Nanna gasped then, withdrawing back into her own vision before shaking her head to regain her composure.

“What is it?” Santa asked, deflecting an axe swing from a sturdy-looking satyr.

“He’ll take the bait,” Nanna said.

On the other side of the battlefield, the three humans in the miniaturized sled couldn’t ignore the fracas below.  Elves and dwarves weaved out of combat with satyrs and yetis, all while dodging projectiles thrown by Loki’s frost giants.  A duo of dire penguins slid across the ice, hungry to feed an insatiable appetite.

One of the trebuchet-fired barrels struck a frost giant in the chest, shattering against his sturdy frame, and leaving him covered in briny liquid that stank beyond what he could bear.  He hollered in fear as the pair of penguins leaped off the ground, closing their toothy beaks over one of his arms, and one of his legs.

As much danger as the penguins posed, the invading army’s leader focused on something else instead.  He narrowed his eyes, peering at each of the passing lumibugs, watching as they shone their light in different colors.  Then, one at a time, he swatted them out of the air, knocking them in every direction, until there was only a small collection left.

“That’s it,” Raskagar said.  “I was hoping we could get past him without any violence unleashed upon our little insect friends, but they’ll be fine, I’m sure.  As for this bug, and the sleigh…”

As Loki brought up his hand to smack the lot of the last few bugs, the wizard worked his magic, and set a spell upon the sleigh.  A trail of fire shot out of the back, and the sleigh and the little vehicle and the insect attached to it zipped across the battlefield.

“What?” the humans in the sleigh heard.  “No!”

But it was too late.  They had already passed over Loki’s rear guards, and their commander almost seemed to retreat from the large skirmish, for he had seen the peculiar way the final lumibug traveled.

Michael and Rhianna once again felt the rush of the air on their face, and the sudden jolt forward had them pushed back in their seats.

“Still have any of those ginger candies?” Michael asked.

Before his wife could even return an answer, Raskagar leaned forward, pointing with his wand toward front of the sleigh.

“Now remember, you two: this is going to be a tight squeeze, but my magic will guide you through, so you don’t have to worry.”  The wizard flicked his wrist, and a swirl of sparkling light fluttered forward.  As it landed upon the lumibug’s back, the harness that kept it connected to the sleigh snapped, releasing it from its bindings.  “Whoa, we’re alright,” Raskagar said as their floating vehicle dropped a few inches—inches which felt like more than a few feet.  The sleigh steadied itself though, just in time for the trio riding there to see their target.

“Santa’s workshop,” Rhianna mused.  “One more important place to pry from Loki’s grasp.”

“And the site of our victory if all goes well,” Raskagar replied.  He clapped Michael on his shoulder then.  “Now, you remember the plan, right?”

“Not in the slightest,” Michael said.  “Do you know how many plans we had today?  I’m all planned out.”

“Well, it’s an easy one.  Just stay out of trouble until help arrives.”

“We’ll see how that goes,” Rhianna said with a wink.  “We’ll see you soon!”

“That you will,” Raskagar said.  With another flick of his wrist, he pointed the wand toward himself, and at once, he hopped up from the sleigh.

Michael and Rhianna looked over their shoulders, watching as the wizard returned to his normal size, and landed in the icy path leading toward the workshop.  Standing between the two streetlamps there, they could see as Raskagar began preparing more enchantments, for in the distance, it was apparent that some of Loki’s army had doubled back, intending on protecting the workshop at all costs.

When the husband and wife wrenched their gazes away from the shadows that drew closer to the building, they realized they were much closer to the workshop than they had anticipated.  The door was mere inches away, and the miniaturized sleigh was near to it indeed.  They grabbed hold of each other and hollered at the top of their lungs.

Then, a moment later, their sleigh passed through the keyhole of the door, like a line of thread through the eye of a needle.

They could sense that things had changed, and that time for the better.  Peanut, Zelda and Maisie labored through the forest, taking things nice and easy, for the satyrs and yetis had all fled, and the rest of Santa’s troops were on the offensive again.

“What happened?” Peanut wondered as an elf sprinted by.

“Loki broke ranks, and ran away,” the elf explained then.  “After that, his army scattered like flies.”

Zelda looked to the cat while Maisie stopped walking and let loose a tremendous yawn.  “Did we win?” she wondered.

Peanut shook her head.  “We didn’t win until we’re all back together.”  She swatted the black and white dog on the rump then.  “What do you think, Maisie?  Are you okay to run just a little bit again?  You only have to keep up with the two of us.”

“Of course,” Maisie insisted, though as she spoke, she ended up leaning against the nearest tree, and yawned again.  “I’m not tired at all.”

Peanut grumbled, knowing that, though her sister had likely helped a lot in fetching some of their more impressive allies, that her terrible fatigue was keeping them from making sure that the rest of their family was safe.

Before she could commit her thoughts to words, she heard a grunt behind her, and as she meowed in surprise, all three animals were scooped off the ground.

“Svetlana!” Zelda squeaked.  “After everything that happened today, I thought for sure you were going to be taking an even deeper rest than Maisie.”

The reindeer grunted again, and began to canter forward, knowing that each of the DeAngelo pets were worried.  As tired as she was, the reindeer would get them to the workshop before long.

The sleigh had delivered them just where the wizard promised them it would.  Michael and Rhianna walked on from there, for once they had arrived within the workshop, the magic guiding it had ceased.  For a brief few moments, the pair were happy to have passed through the keyhole.  But when they realized the sleigh was quickly descending toward the hardwood floor, their cries resumed.  They only abated at the last moment when a bit of leftover magic caught hold of them, ensuring they didn’t smash into the ground.  Still, they had no control over the vehicle without a lumibug or any reindeer, and eventually it did land on the ground, and slid about.

After they recovered from the furious beating in their hearts, Michael and Rhianna climbed out of the bold red sleigh and stepped onto the dusky brown floor of the workshop foyer, which seemed to stretch on for a mile toward the main room of the building.  After several minutes of walking, they looked back to the sleigh, musing about how much the place looked like a desert in their miniaturized forms.

“You know, I barely like walking when I’m regular sized,” Rhianna said.  “But at least I can look at the trees and the animals—you know, nature.”

Michael blew out a tired sigh then as well, but when he turned to his wife, he wore an animated smile.  “What are you talking about?” he asked, jumping ahead, and pointing with both hands toward various places in the foyer.  “Look: way over here, we have desk mountain.  And over there, on the horizon, we see the shelves of led’jer,” he announced, putting a fantasy spin on the accounting books that Santa’s workers kept hold of.  Then he looked up and feigned a bit of a fright before he pointed to a little toy airplane that hung from the ceiling.  “A dragon!”

Rhianna rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she couldn’t ignore the smile stretching her lips.

Their few moments of respite from all the chaos unfolding at the north pole was soon cut short, for they heard the violence then even from within the workshop.  Spells fired off and reported as explosions, and war shouts and hollering rang out as well.  Someone slammed against the door of the building, and the husband and wife looked at each other, new worries bubbling over.

“We’ve got another big problem,” Michael said then, all hints of optimism chipping away then.  “How are we going to get that door open?” he said, pointing to the room where all the magic happened.

“We’ll find a way,” Rhianna said, taking over the duties of thinking positively.  “Let’s just hope that everyone outside is going to be alright as well.

Raskagar felt a layer of sweat marring his brow just beneath his hat, and he blew out a cold breath as he watched the next line of Loki’s troops dare to charge forth.  Often, it was a well-protected Aesir, dressed in more refined and angular armor, who seemed set on protecting the workshop.  Despite their more elaborate gear, they were no match for the old wizard’s quick thinking and quicker enchantments.

Magical traps clasped the legs of those who ventured a bit too far from the path, rooting soldiers in place.  A sudden heat upon a part of other soldiers’ bodies were the only warning they had before a burst of flame sent them flying skyward, or straight at the workshop, only to thud into the wall.  And when Raskagar felt truly winded, he summoned his own guardians to help: a pair of snowmen seemed to burst from the ground, their innocuous look soon proved false by their surprising expert swordsmanship.

The wizard, surrounded by those he had bested, who nursed aching heads or weary bodies, knew that he was flagging as well.  And as he saw the flaming red hair of the opposing commander stomping his way, he knew that it was only a matter of time before he would fall under the wave of Loki’s might.

For a fleeting moment, he thought it might be better to be overrun by the Aesir or the satyrs, or even a frost giant who stomped his way.  But he reminded himself that everyone had a role to play, and his was not done yet.

As he assured himself, other members of Santa’s army emerged from the nearby woods, elves and dwarves ready to meet yetis and goatmen.  The sound of steel ringing against steel set a symphony amidst the still night, with more instruments joining in every few moments.  Raskagar helped as best he could, flinging distracting, swirling missiles at Loki’s troops.  But it was the elves and dwarves who made the difference then, knocking their foes back or sweeping them to the ground.

Before long, the area just outside the workshop was strewn over with those unconscious combatants who had toiled for just a bit too long.

Loki looked over his shoulder then, seeing Santa and Nanna hurrying as quick as they could, but he knew it would not matter.  The Nordic god of mischief continued his short trek toward the workshop, soon stopping just before he reached the wizard there, and the new guardians he had amassed.

“Step aside,” he demanded.  “If I have to, I’ll dice you up with my dagger, the mighty Laevateinn.”  As he spoke, he flipped it over in his hand, and Raskagar could see the spark that sizzled on the tip of it.

“I’ll not let you pass,” the wizard insisted.  Dispatch me if you must, but I make my stand here.”

“Then you mark your fall there as well,” Loki said.

He sent his dagger flying forward, and while Raskgar expected it to come toward him, it instead tore through the snowman to his left, the dagger seeming to dance on the opposite side of the impaled sentry as though it was moved about on a string.  With a tug on the invisible tether, the dagger went right back through the snowman’s hollowed-out head, carving a bigger hole there.  Loki caught his little blade with ease, shooting a confident smirk Raskagar’s way.

“You’ll have to do more than melt a snowman to impress me,” the wizard said.  “So, you’ve got a magic dagger.  So what?  Allow me to show you some real magic.”

At once, little stones seemed to show up in the air around Raskagar, and his frightening foe couldn’t quite make sense of where they came from.  Had the wizard plucked them up from beneath the snow, or pulled them from the aether?

It made no difference, for the Aesir god had no intention of letting the caster use them.  He tossed his knife again, that time ignoring the other snowman and aiming straight for the wizard.  Raskagar’s stones moved into place, deflecting the magic dagger, and knocking it to the side.  Loki scoffed and pulled his hand to the side, willing the blade back around, but the stones were once again in place to protect the man he wished to dispatch.

“You bore me,” Loki said then, and rather than attack from afar, he began a hasty approach.

Raskagar’s stones spun about him, and with each pass, they pulled in more magic from beyond the veil.  An electrical charge surrounded one, while another was awash in flame.  Yet another took on a pale blue hue and looked to freeze over with ice.

Just as it had been, Loki didn’t seem to exercise any caution, never faltering in his approach.  He burst forth, bringing his dagger back to his hand just in time to take a bold swing at Raskagar.

But the wizard’s stones all conflated into one area, just before him, and a trio of magical effects burned, shocked, and froze the god, bringing him to his knees before he teetered over backward.

“I told you before,” Raskagar said, “you will not reach the workshop.”

As the wizard looked at the fallen Aesir god, he heard Loki’s voice.  “He may not reach it.  But I will.”

It took a moment for Raskagar to realize the voice didn’t come from the figure he saw fallen on the snow before him.  All at once, the illusion that Loki had concocted burned away, and Raskagar saw that he had bested a satyr, and not the god.  Loki appeared as if from thin air, an invisibility spell ceasing by his doing.

The wizard never had a chance to swing his magical stones back the other way.  Loki flipped his dagger over in his hand and drove it into his foe’s back.

The shield broke, reporting its failure with a sound that resonated like breaking glass.  While the dagger didn’t cause any lasting damage to the wizard, it certainly felt like he was thumped with a hefty club, and he fell to the ground, barely able to catch himself on his hands.  If Loki had intended to deliver a more permanent consequence, Raskagar wasn’t sure.  But the wizard knew that he had been spent one way or the other.

Laboring to lift his head and watch the battle continue to unfold, Raskagar felt his arms shaking.  But when he saw a familiar pair not so far away, and with a new sibling with them, the wizard felt the strength to exhibit some last-minute arrogance.  He turned about, just in time to see Loki grasp the door, and thrust it open.

“Even in my falling, there has been glory,” Raskagar said.

“Oh, yes?” Loki wondered.  “And why is that?”  He turned back to the fellow he had bested, and he failed to see the golden light that swirled about from the door handle, beginning at his feet, and wrapping around him like a gilded vine that was cognizant of his shield.

So caught up in waiting for Raskagar to give him an answer, he hadn’t noticed the quartet of animals barreling his way.

At the last moment, a satyr ambled into the reindeer’s path, although he was unaware until the last second that he had done so.  He turned, and on reflex, ducked his head, antlers and horns meeting in a fierce blow that had the reindeer and the satyr spilling to the ground.  Zelda and Peanut leaped off to the sides, but Maisie hopped right over top of the falling goatman.

“Don’t worry, Svetlana,” the little black and white dog said.  “I’ll take it from here.”

Loki spotted the commotion then but thought nothing of it.  He was not aware of the magic that Maisie possessed—nor the magic that was taking hold over him.  It wasn’t until he saw that the dog was charging toward him that he noticed the two magics in tandem.  Maisie’s amulet glistened in the light of morning, while the golden helix that passed over him left his body tingling.

“What have you done?” the Aesir god asked.

Raskagar smiled.  “Oh, not much.  Just cut you down to size.”

Loki looked down at himself, not quite noticing anything just yet.  But when he looked up, he realized it was too late to do anything beyond brace for impact.

Maisie, using the full power of the amulet once more, charged forth, bowing her head.  With a little hop, she rose into the air, driving her head into Loki’s chest, and sending him flying backward.

Loki flew through the foyer, slamming against the door into the workshop proper, and forcing it open.  As he fell to the ground, the magic that Raskagar had invoked on the workshop’s front door took hold in full and shrunk Loki down.

When he landed upon his rump on the ground, he noticed that everything looked bigger.  Everything, that was, except for the husband-and-wife duo who had just about reached that door.

Michael and Rhianna shouted, so surprised to see such a large object smash into the area that they were headed.  Similarly, the smack of Loki’s back against the door before he landed on the ground sounded like thunder in the surrounding building.

“I thought we’d have more time to get into the workshop,” Michael whispered to his wife.

“That’s alright,” Rhianna said, tapping the handle of her spear against her shield.  “Loki’s been knocked around a bit.  We’re fresh for the fight!”  She looked over her shoulder to see who had aided them and saw their little black and white dog—much bigger to them then, of course—shaking her head from the charging headbutt.  “Good job, Maisie!” Rhianna called out, though she knew that the pup wouldn’t hear her.

Loki finally rose to his feet, shaking his head as well.  It was then that he focused on the pair in front of him, and understood that he recognized them, to some extent.

“Well, if it isn’t a pair of my brother’s champions,” he said.  “What a delight to finally meet in the flesh.”

“Oh look,” Michael said, crossing his arms over his chest.  “If it isn’t the guy who hijacked our trip to the North Pole last year.  You know, there was a jug of eggnog with my name on it that I completely missed last year, and it was your fault.”

“Not to mention all the good food,” Rhianna grumbled.  “Maisie was so mad!”

“That’s right,” Michael said.  “But it looks like she already got her vengeance on you.”

“Ah, Maisie, that’s right,” Loki said, rubbing his rump.  “I suppose she was the one that just launched me halfway across the workshop.”  He stood a little taller then, and tossed his dagger into the air again, the blade spinning over several times.  “She did me a favor then, since now I’m able to stop you—which was part of my intentions in the first place.  And after you two are out of my way, I’ll be sure to put that mutt in a kennel where she belongs.”

Rhianna stomped forward a few steps, furrowing her brow at once.  “Maisie hates kennels, and I hate whatever makes Maisie sad.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Loki said.  “But I have a feeling you’re going to have to get used to that a lot soon.”

“You should be the one being locked up,” Rhianna grumbled then.  “After what you did last year, it’s only fair.”

“Oh please,” the Aesir god said.  “I did the two of you a favor and gave you something to look forward to after a wretched year of being trapped in the same routine day after day.  You should just count your stars that its benefits coincided with finding my brother after all these centuries.”

Michael stood up a little straighter then, believing for a moment that he detected a strange change of tone in Loki’s voice.

“No matter,” the god said.  “There will be no benefits to you lot this year.”  As he finished speaking, he drew his dagger, the empowered Laevateinn, once more.

By reflex alone, Michael stepped forward and to the side, guarding his wife.

And it was just in time, it seemed, for Loki tossed the blade into the air…

…but it hovered just before where the husband and wife stood.  By the time they realized it was a distraction, Loki was already sprinting into the room behind him.

“Hurry up!” Rhianna said, pushing Michael to the side.  “He’s getting away.”

“Yes, but why?” Michael said, breaking into a sprint of his own a moment later, and easily catching up with his wife.

She grumbled as she pushed on, keeping pace with him as best she could.  “I don’t know, but look,” she said, pointing for just a moment before she realized the gesture was making her flag behind.  “He’s aiming for the portal.  Maybe he’s going for reinforcements.  Or maybe the power emanating from it will negate the shrinking magic.”

“Whatever it is, we can’t let him get there,” Michael said.  “But it won’t matter if we can’t catch him, and he is really fast!”

As Michael finished his thought, he and Rhianna nearly shouted in unison, for a reddish-brown blur zipped by them then.

It only took a moment for them to realize that it was there other dog, and Zelda saw the fleeing Aesir as well.

Michael cheered instead, cutting himself off at once to ensure that he didn’t ruin the element of surprise.  Rhianna sent a gloating laugh in Loki’s direction, just as she saw Zelda bound off the ground, leaping over their foe.

Loki turned about, trying to see what had earned the woman’s arrogance.  He only barely noticed the shadow overhead and turned back the way he was heading in time to see the auburn-furred dog looking his way, her eyes narrowed.  He attempted to speak, but Zelda crinkled her nose and began growling, the noise pushing him back a few steps.

Willing bravery back into his body, Loki held up his hand, and the blade that he had tossed toward the husband-and-wife duo earlier spun back across the area, and into his hand once more.  He held it up as though it was a javelin ready to throw, and he stomped toward Zelda.

“You fool,” he cried.  “I reared the mighty Fenrir.  You think I am frightened by some oversized mutt?”

Zelda stopped growling for a moment and tilted her head to the side.  “I’m not oversized.  You’re undersized.”

“And her pedigree papers say she’s one hundred percent chihuahua,” Rhianna said, gasping for air as they reached their opponent once more.

“Yeah, but we’re pretty sure they’re lying, aren’t we?” Michael asked his wife.

She threw her shield hand up in the air.  “He doesn’t need to know that.”

Loki didn’t bother to turn about, knowing that the only thing stopping him from reaching the portal was right in front of him.  He reared back and tossed his dagger.

But he didn’t expect a spear to come soaring in faster, striking the spinning blade before it could travel too far.  Rhianna’s weapon struck the floorboard in front of Loki, and became embedded there, while the dagger flew off and tumbled to the side.

“You imbeciles,” Loki said then.  “Don’t you know anything about Laevateinn?  It’s enchanted, and comes back to me when I—”

As he turned about to fight off his other two opponents, Michael slid on the ground, and swung out with his axe, catching the Aesir in his belly.  Loki was still under the power of his shield, however, which flashed red for just a moment as Michael kept moving, pulling the axe back away.

Loki turned to keep up with the man, watching as he pressed down on the spear, freeing it from where it had landed.  At once, Michael tossed the spear, and brought his axe to bear again.  The god rolled his shoulder back and growled.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” Loki growled.  “If you’re trying to beat me, you can’t miss.”  Even as he spoke the words, he realized that the spear had gone right where it was supposed to, and when he looked over his shoulder for a flash of a second, he saw that Rhianna once again had the spear in her hand.

He thrust out his hand, catching Laevateinn just in time to deflect a stab from the spear.  The next instant, he spun a pirouette, swiping a slash of Michael’s axe away.

And so it went, for several moments, Loki desperately moving about, spinning halfway around to parry one attack or dodge the next.  Eventually, he was able to move to his side enough to fight the two humans without being caught in a pincer maneuver.  Of course, he couldn’t quite escape his situation, for Zelda hopped up and down in the air, almost herding him in place.

The pup only hesitated for a moment when she saw a dwarf—most likely a warrior fighting on Santa’s side of the battle outside—enter the workshop from the rear door of the building.  He heard the series of tink, tink, tinks that rang out from the area before narrowing his eyes and looking at the small combatants on the floor.  He looked down further then, to the flask he held in his hand.

“Well, that’s enough of that then,” he said.  He took one final swig of whatever was in the flask, and then squeezed the rest of it onto the fire that crackled in the hearth beside the back door.

None of the combatants were very concerned when that guest turned about and walked away, but they did notice the roar of the fire as it consumed the alcohol that he poured in the hearth.  The dwarf hadn’t noticed—or hadn’t cared about—the portal on the opposite side of the workshop, which Loki knew he just couldn’t reach, surrounded by the DeAngelo family as he was.

“I grow tired of this,” he growled.

Sensing a lull in the scuffle, Michael panted, leaning back, and rubbing his back with his free hand.  “I grow tired in general,” he said.  “Oh, this stupid pandemic hasn’t been great when it comes to keeping it shape.”

“Round’s a shape,” Rhianna ventured, though she bowed down, resting her arms on her bent knees.  “It’s just not the right shape.”

When the two stopped poking fun at themselves for their overly sedentary lifestyle since being relegated to their homes, they noticed that Loki had found an unexpected ally: himself.

“Let us be done with this so that I can be on my way,” the Aesir said, and as he spoke, the pair of Loki’s duplicated again, and then once more, so that there were eight Loki figures that all seemed to act independent of one another.

“Well, this just won’t do,” Michael said.

One of the Loki images lunged toward Michael, slashing out with its dagger.  Michael stepped to his side and swung with his axe, cleaving it through his foe, and he watched as a wisp of colored smoke trailed off from there, while the image reconstituted on the other side.

Rhianna, too, prepared to do battle with her foes, for two more versions of Loki seemed to be ready to attack her.  But both times she attempted to parry a blow her spear went right through the images.

Even Zelda couldn’t hold herself back, and jumped onto the closest Loki she saw, like a fox hunting for its prey under a heavy snow.  When she didn’t feel anything between her paws, she hopped back, and was surprised to see the trickster god reform.

Several dozen feet away, Loki’s invisibility spell wore off, and he turned to look at his latest magic confusing the DeAngelo family enough to keep them preoccupied.  “Pathetic,” he said, before he resumed his quick escape toward the portal.

He hurried in front of the work desks that Santa’s craftspeople worked on, but he didn’t notice one more inhabitant of the building, who had hidden herself in the shadows.

“Only a fool wouldn’t know you didn’t have one more trick up your sleeves,” he heard.  Loki looked over his shoulder, expecting one of those left fighting his doppelgangers to have fled from the fight.

He sensed that he was looking in the wrong direction then, however, and when he looked to his side, it was just in time to see a large paw swinging down.

Loki crashed to the floor with Peanut’s weight upon him, and he heard his shield shattering.

“Get your hand off me, you mangy feline!” he grunted.  He gasped and yowled when the cat’s claws dug in a little further.

“That’s enough of that,” Loki heard then, and at once, Peanut retracted her claws and backed away.  When the stars stopped circling the Aesir god’s vision, he saw a different hand reaching down toward him, that one wrapped in a leather glove.  A moment later, he was dropped into a frosted orb, and someone closed off the top of his new prison, trapping him, and ensuring his quest for the portal was in vain.

He fought to keep his balance, but it was all in vain, for a moment later, his glass cage was turned upside down, and he was forced to catch his bearings.  Loki shook his head, trying to make sense of the strange visions he was seeing.  He was certain that he was still inside, for he could see all of the desks and toys within Santa’s workshop, but he was also stricken by the sight of snow, fluttering down toward the ground, though he didn’t see any of it sticking to the wooden floorboards.

It didn’t take long after that for him to realize his horrible turn of fate.

He was trapped in a snow globe.

The fellow who had caught hold of him stepped back, and he could see the person’s fluffy white beard, and he realized that he had been apprehended by the enemy commander, his very brother.

“Hello, Loki,” Santa said, a certain jolliness returned to his voice in the coming of his victory.  “I hope you don’t mind, but we’ll be taking back that portal now.”

The trapped Aesir wore a disappointed frown, but spread out his arms, and waved his hands to the side, conceding victory to his brother.

Santa stepped back, holding up a finger to Loki, bidding him to wait while some other necessary tasks transpired.  Some of the Christmas figure’s elite warriors entered the buildings and began guarding the doors, while a tired old wizard shuffled into the workshop, waving about his staff to undo some of the magic that he had cast on his friends.

A moment later, Michael and Rhianna reverted to full size, and they some sighs of relief escape their lips.  Zelda hopped up toward them, excited to see them returned to their appropriate height, and upon one of those jumps, Rhianna caught her upon her arm, turning over her shield to give her more of a surface to sit upon.  Peanut sprang onto the table beside them then, and then they heard the excited snuffles of their other dog as Maisie pushed her way into the workshop.

“Whoa!” Michael said, turning about and bracing for impact as he sank to his knees.

Maisie jumped into his arms then, nuzzling her head against his chest.  “It’s okay, Rurnar and Halgrum and Beroras took the amulet back after we won.”

Michael chuckled, knowing that, had they not, he would have likely been napping on the floor of the workshop then.

With the family reunited, and Santa’s better half moving into the building then as well, a new feeling of reprieve washed over everyone who was in attendance.

Everyone, that was, except for one person.

Santa turned back to the snow globe upon the fireplace mantle.

“Now let’s see what we’ll be doing about you,” he said.

*          *          *

The area around the portal was decorated with enchanted snow, and glowing wreaths, framing the once sought-after military target as one meant to be celebrated then.  For indeed, it had become a point of much deliberation throughout the night before a call had been made by Santa to use it for just the thing that Loki had intended to use it for: bringing forth the people of Asgard.  Santa, however, had a different sort of invitation that he had sent out through the portal to his old home, much to Loki’s chagrin.

And yet, the trickster god didn’t seem all that perturbed by his loss, or by his failure to secure the portal.

The blue-robed wizard moved up beside the shackled prince of the Aesir, holding up a plate of Christmas treats, which Loki waved away.

“Is it true that the real reason that you invaded the North Pole this year was to make sure that Santa couldn’t use the portal for Christmas?” Raskagar wondered.

“For Christmas?” Loki repeated with a scoff.  “I didn’t want him to be able to use it at all.  He left home centuries ago and I was not about to see him bugger off again under the dark of night.  Christmas was just a bonus.  Do you know how many missed yuletides we’d suffered through when we thought him passed on all those years ago?  Well, I certainly think he could stand to miss at least one.”

He turned to his side then, looking at the center of the workshop, where Santa and Nanna danced together, encircled by two little dogs who jumped about, enjoying the music and the frivolity, while their humans clapped along to the music and took swigs of festive drinks.  Peanut, the DeAngelo cat, sat a bit behind them, taking refuge beneath the same work desk that she had ambushed Loki from earlier.

“Now that’s someone who I can agree with when it comes to festivities,” Loki grumbled.

“Oh, come now,” Raskagar said.  “It can’t be all that bad, can it?  Look.”  He pointed toward the foyer of the building, and then to the frosted-over windows, both which showed that even Loki’s beaten troops had begun to enjoy themselves, with satyrs and even frost giants taking part in the revelry.  “If they can be merry, why can’t you?” Raskagar asked.  “Here.”  He tapped his staff against the god’s shackles then, and the clasp snapped apart, the manacles falling to the floor.

They disappeared before they ever reached the wooden boards, and by reflex alone, Loki grasped at his wrists and rubbed his skin.  “Aren’t you worried about me commandeering the portal again?”

“What do you think the shackles were for, hmm?” Raskagar mused.  “After all our back and forth this day, and you doubt the extent of my magic?  The whole while you were wearing them, I was attuning the portal to you, ensuring it won’t ever react to your whims again.  As such, there’s no need to have you moping about over here, wondering when to make your move—at least, in that direction.  But perhaps it’s over there that you could make a move,” he said, pointing with his staff.  “You clearly have some issues that need resolving, wouldn’t you say?  No better time than the present to do so.”

As the wizard finished his speech, a young lad with a mop of blond hair emerged from the portal, and exclaimed with joy, “Raskagar!”

The magic-toting fellow spun on his heel and flashed his eyebrows, nearly throwing his staff to the side.  “Barnabus, my boy!  It’s good to see you!”

Loki grumbled and turned to head to the center of the workshop, his brother in his sights.  Before he could interrupt Santa’s dance with Nanna, however, another reveler interrupted his plans, yet again.

Michael had imbibed a few too many spiced eggnogs.

“Hey, Loki,” he said, enunciating the few syllables perhaps a bit too much.  “I just want to say I get it.  I mean, I miss my brother too.  Maybe the next time he comes home, I’ll try out the Loki method and flatten his tires or something so he can’t leave.”  Michael meant no ill will with his comment however and tapped his former foe on the shoulder as he moved along.

Loki still grumbled again, a little less than happy that his business had been circulated among all the people in the North Pole, it seemed—those of his opponent’s forces, and of his own.

Even with that truth before him, Loki didn’t relent, forcing himself to continue along his path, his brother in his sight.  If he couldn’t find victory on the battlefield, he would still succeed to speak his mind to his brother.

“Ah, Loki,” Santa said, upon seeing his adopted brother.  “It is good to see you out of your shackles.”

“You’ve turned my troops into a bunch of jovial rabblerousers,” the trickster god said.  “I might as well still be in shackles.”

“Ah, but there’s no need for any of that sullenness, is there?” Nanna asked.  “As it turned out, we practically wanted the same thing anyway: for that portal to work—only I suppose we wanted to work for different reasons.”

“Look, I suppose in the interest of transparency—something I’m still trying to get a knack for—I might as well come clean and let you know that the thought of using the portal for world domination did come to mind once or twice.”

Santa couldn’t stifle a fit of jolly laughter then.  “As I recall, you’ve been battling those aspirations since before I came here.  Perhaps a vague thought crossed your mind, but I’m glad you came here for a more personal reason.”

Loki stood a little taller then and arched an eyebrow.  “You know I’m the god of deception, don’t you?  Are you certain that it’s a good idea to keep me around like this?”

Santa draped his hand on his brother’s shoulder.  “I was never worried for myself.  Truth be told, in all the time that we’ve lived here, we had time to correct that one little mistake from Freyja’s enchantment.”  He pointed at the mistletoe that hung from a few of the crossbeams above their heads.  “What, you think I’d have all those sprigs of it here if all it took was someone tossing them at me?  No, my real worry was Christmas.  There are billions of people out there who deserve this one bright spot of the year more than any, and I can’t imagine a world where darkness wins out.  I’m sorry that for a time, I thought you were part of that darkness.”

“I may yet have some of it in my heart,” Loki muttered.  “Did you know how long I suffered, believing an errant prank had been the end of you?  I gave a wobbly spear to a blind god.  How was I to know that it would hit you?  Between everyone hating me for that, and what felt like years of sadness that came after that, learning that you may have still been alive broke me.  I spent centuries searching for you, brother.  I just never expected to find you on this world so far from the nine realms.”

“You know, technically…” Santa began to say.  However, he grew silent when he saw another set of visitors arrived through the portal.

Loki followed his brother’s gaze across the room and was aghast to see a pair of Aesir looking about the room, only three eyes between them, although the Allfather, had Huginn and Muninn to help him identify the things worth his attention.

“You invited Mother and Father?” Loki asked in a panic.

Santa shrugged.  “I figured it was time for a proper family reunion.  Come then, let’s say hello while the day is still young.”

Loki lingered there for a time, hesitant to take his brother up on that offer.  “If you’ve invited them, I wonder who else you’ve sent word to.”

*          *          *

The celebrations wound down considerably.  Though there was cause for celebration, there was still much work to do ahead of Christmas as well.  While Santa’s workshop had been used in full throughout the year, and many of the toys and gifts had been fashioned and packaged, they had lost valuable time due to the skirmish and the festivities that followed.

Of course, even knowing all that, it was difficult for Santa to send his relatives away, having just come clean about his whereabouts after what felt like eons.

And there were a great many relatives to welcome to his new home.  Santa, once Baldr, embraced his parents with such love that the big jolly fellow had nearly barreled them over.  He met with Freyja some time later, demonstrating that the one item she had left out from her ritual had been resolved.

Thor departed the party the way that he arrived, a large thunderclap heralding his travels.

That time, Zelda responded with a grumbly “Stop doing that!”  The rest of the guests believed that it was much more fitting of a hero than her previous pronouncement of “we’re doomed!  The world has ended!  We’re all going to die!”

Indeed, all those who had come from Asgard had moved along except for one, for Loki remained behind, finding it within himself to revel a bit, and enjoying the yuletide spirit in full after so many years.

Santa also had some of his more trusted champions by his side, though he could see that the battles and the planning had left some fatigue upon his friends’ faces.

“You know, you outdid yourself this year,” he said to the DeAngelo family.  “I know this certainly wasn’t the kind of thing that you were expecting, and it didn’t begin or end the way I believed it would,” he mentioned, clapping his brother on his back for good measure.  “But you had a hand in bringing these two insufferable fools back together, and you helped to ensure there will be more joyous times ahead of us all.

“So, I must ask you this one thing: what do you want for Christmas?”

With the three animals tuckered out beneath the table, it fell to the husband and wife to come up with a worthy enough present.  Rhianna reached out and grabbed Michael’s hand, giving it a gentle little squeeze.  “I think we have everything we need this year,” she said.  “We’re just grateful to have our family together.”

“As wonderful a gift as anyone can have,” Santa said, while Loki rolled his eyes—though, it seemed even that indignant look had faded somewhat.  Santa stood then and helped his tired guests out of their seats.  “Perhaps we could have you back later this year for a proper celebration preceded by as few battles as possible.  I hear July is a wonderful time for festivities.”

Michael and Rhianna scooped up their tired animals and walked alongside Santa as he brought them closer to the portal.

“Merry Christmas,” Michael said to Santa then, his voice as close to a whisper as he could get, for he did not wish to wake Maisie and Zelda, both draped over one of his shoulders.  “I’m glad that you were able to get something you weren’t expecting this year.”

“As am I,” the jolly fellow replied.  “Now you get home and get some rest.  It will be a new day before you know it.”

Rhianna leaned forward and stood on the tips of her toes, giving Santa a quick embrace, but minding the snoring cat she had pressed against her chest while she did so.  “See you next year,” she bade.

Santa waved them on as they departed, disappearing through the portal.  He lingered there for a time before he turned, a weary smile upon his face.  He saw Loki at the table still, though he had risen, and leaned backward against it, his arms crossed over his chest.

“You know,” Loki said, “I hate to admit it, but I see why you like them so.  They’re a pleasant enough lot, and from all I’ve learned of their exploits, they’ve earned your praise.  But you know, having heard the stories, I think… I think I know just the present for them this year.”

“You do?” Santa wondered.

*          *          *

With gifts and wrapping paper strewn across the floor, Rhianna remarked that their living room looked just as bad as the battle at the North Pole.  While the animals played with their new toys and treats, the husband and wife took sips of coffee and hot cocoa.

Michael stifled a yawn, but leaned back toward the tree, reaching toward a box that was tucked a bit behind where the other presents had been.

“I think this is the last one,” he said.  As he brought it forward though, he noticed his wife’s narrowed eyes and furrowed brow.  “What?  What is it?”

“I didn’t use that wrapping paper,” she insisted.  “And I even wrapped the presents you got for me,” she teased.  “That’s not a secret present you got us, is it?”

“No,” Michael said.

All the animals were more intrigued then as well, joining their humans on the floor to look at the box.

Suddenly, it moved about, and they heard a little snuffle from within.  Zelda and Maisie looked at one another, a bit perplexed by that sound—and by the new smell they detected in the house.

But it was Peanut, who had been through it time and time again, who knew just what they were in for.

“Not again!” she cried.

A huge thank you to Leo Borazio and Wern Szuen Lee for helping us with our bookmarks this year.  It was a rush job for both of them, but they did an awesome job with everything!

The post Christmas Revelations appeared first on Tellest.

A baleful wind announced its presence by singing eerie tunes against narrow cracks and openings in the doors, the windows and the soffit.  Everything was sealed shut, but the dog still held her eyes to the front of the house, wondering if the gusts would tear the screen door from its hinges.  Maisie sat in the bed in the picture window, much happier to stand guard than either of her siblings—although at that point, she had slumped down, and rested her head on the uplifted side of the fluffy bed.

Behind her, the other dog sat on the ottoman, curled up so that her tail covered her nose.  Zelda sat in the open light of the window, almost as though she was looking for some sunlight to come through.  But the sun had only come out for a few moments that day, and it shone through the window there hours earlier.  She waited there to pounce, because the moment Maisie found someone walking down the sidewalk, she grumbled and whined, and followed them to the back of the house, looking out the back window instead, ensuring that they kept on walking.  She’d find her sister in the bed in the window then instead, and would noodge incessantly to anyone who’d pay attention to her, pawing at them and standing on their chest—her way of saying without any words that the other animal had to be evicted from her window.

Peanut, the morning sentry, had retired for her noonday nap, disappearing up the stairs some time before.  Every hour or so, she took a groggy walk down the stairs for a drink of water or a stretch as she checked the perimeter of the house, but everything seemed to be in good working order.

It had become routine.  Over the year, the three animals had fallen into step, working together, perhaps without realizing it, to guard the house from the dangers outside.

Taking a day off, Rhianna had shifted some of her own routine.  The house filled with a delightful aroma.  Baking became an escape from the bitter news that seemed to spiral out of the television and the internet.  Cookies were a bit of a guilty pleasure, but they were also a worthy distraction.  That batch was different though.  They were celebratory cookies.  It was a special day—the one before Christmas Eve—and the DeAngelo family was ready for the magic that was bound to come.

Everyone needed it that year.

The cat and the dogs didn’t realize it, but there were far less visitors over the many months that passed.  Nobody ventured inside the house except on one occasion in the summer, and even that one was fraught with stress and worry.  The two pups hadn’t visited anyone else either.  The only interaction the DeAngelo animals had with other people was seeing a family member through the fence or grumbling at a delivery person or another person walking a dog down the road.

That was, perhaps, one reason that the window had become such a coveted spot over the previous several months.  It was an opportunity to see the world around them a bit more often, and it brought them together in some interesting and unexpected ways.  It became less and less surprising to see all three of them together there—more tolerable of one another’s company, if not outright enjoying it.

Rhianna, sitting on the couch and playing on her phone, couldn’t hide a smile when she heard the little whine from the window.  She leaned forward and saw Maisie’s tail wagging—as sure a sign as any that the final member of their family was home.  Before the latest arrival even passed by the window, Maisie’s whimpers had caught Zelda’s attention, and they both dropped to the floor, staring at the door with gleeful expectation.

Despite everything that the past few months had thrown at them, when they were together, the joys they had anticipated the year before were still present.

The door opened, and Michael threw off his coat and his gloves.  Maisie’s whimpers turned to little squeals as she stood up and fell back down, twirled about and jumped from the ottoman to the floor in her little “everyone is home” dance.

“Hi little baby!” Michael teased.  “Give me just one second.”

He pumped a glob of sanitizer into his hand, then.  It didn’t matter that he’d already sanitized in the car before his ride home.  Always a little bit of a germaphobe, those past months had really pushed the man’s neurosis to the limit.

Rhianna arrived at the doorway then as well and smooched her husband before giving him some room to enter the house.

All the while, Maisie’s happy noises continued.  Soon after, though, they gave way to something different, which only came once a year.

“…and I always miss you so much, and I’m always sad when you leave, but I’m so happy when you come back home, and why are you always gone for so long, and did anything fun happen, and also could you please get me some food?”

Michael looked to his wife, a little confused by the sudden speech.  She, too, couldn’t hide her concerns.

The talking animals around that time was normal, all things considered.  But it seemed that the arrival of Maisie’s verbosity came around seven hours early.

“That’s kind of weird, right?”  Michael asked.

“It’s not anywhere near midnight yet,” Rhianna confirmed.

“Who cares?” Zelda asked, excitedly approaching the tallest members of the family.  “More hours to listen to us!  Throw our toys.  No, give us treats.  Make toys out of our treats and then throw them to us!”

“Alright,” Michael said.  “But first, I want a hug.”

“Maisie can give you a butt-first hug!” Zelda cried as she ran to the kitchen, excited for treats.  “Mommy!  It’s important that I tell you this while I can since you don’t seem to understand me any other time throughout the year.  It is always dingo’clock!”

Rhianna sighed, and headed toward the kitchen.  “What’s that?  You sound like a regular ol’ dog again.”

“What?  No!  I had so much to say!  You had so much to learn!”

Crouching down, Michael held his arms out wide, indicating he still wanted the hug from Maisie.  She stepped forward and smushed her head against his chest, balancing on one of his bent knees.

“Let’s get you some food, alright?” Michael said.

Maisie pushed off him and spun around before her front paws landed on the ground.  “Hurray food!”

As Michael stood up again, he saw Peanut in an almost regal pose on the stairs, looking over the kingdom that was their living room.

“Hiya Peanut,” Michael said.

She stuck up her nose at the comment.  “I see you’ve failed to bring home an adequate feast again.  Some hunter you are.”

“I am a different kind of hunter,” he insisted.  “I hunt for the missing information in our systems.  I hunt for the truth.”

“The truth is I haven’t had tuna in far too long,” Peanut challenged.  “This egregious oversight will not soon be forgotten.”

Michael sighed and shook his head, but stepped forward, further into the house.  “You made the right choice taking the day off today,” he told his wife as he made his way down the hall.  “The weather was terrible.  The snow hasn’t really started yet—just a few flurries on my way in this morning—but the wind was so bad it felt like my car was going to fly off the road.  And it’s the day before Christmas Eve, so we know we’ll be getting some snow.  But if the snow is as bad as the wind and the frigid temperatures, I feel like the whole town is going to get swept into Tellest with us.”

“Less fraternizing, more foodernizing!” Maisie demanded.

“Alright, hold on little doggie,” he said.  “I’ve got to change out of these clothes.”

“I left pajamas on the bed for you,” Rhianna said.  “I figured we could eat cookies and drink eggnog while we wait for midnight!”

“What, you mean I shouldn’t walk out in front of the open window for all the neighbors to see?”

“Not if they’re all coming to the North Pole with us,” Rhianna said.

“I’ll show them a—hey, should I wear my comfy socks too?” he asked.  “Do you think I have enough time to do a little writing before we leave?  We’re just watching a movie and having dinner, right?”

“Some of us are still waiting for theirs!” Maisie grumbled from the other room.

“Dinner is cookies,” Rhianna said.  “Cookies is dinner.”

Michael returned to the living room, and passed into the kitchen then, wearing the pajamas that his wife had set out for him—black pants that had grey, white and red patterns on them, and a comfortable red throw over sweater.

Rhianna, in her own holiday attire—a dark pajama gown with green squiggly Christmas trees upon it—held out the tray of cookies for her husband.  Michael eagerly grabbed one along the edge of the tray that had a gooier set of chocolate chips in it.  That first batch had cooled down enough to eat, but they hadn’t quite solidified enough to maintain their shape when grabbed up.  Rather than just take a piece of it and go back for the rest, Michael shoved the crumbling treat into his mouth.  He tilted his head back and leaned to the side, ensuring Rhianna knew she had done well.

“You want some food?” he asked Maisie then, his words somewhat muffled by the chunk of cookie still in his mouth.

Maisie spun about and stood up on her hind legs.  “What do you think I’ve been saying all this time.  You can hear me, right?”

“I hear you just fine,” Michael said.  He reached up to the cabinet, grabbed a scoop of the dog’s food, and poured some out into her bowl—making sure to spill some on the floor when he did.  “How about you, Zelda?  Do you want some too?”  His question was a rhetorical one, as he reached up and grabbed a scoop for her as well.

“Of course, I want food,” she said.  “But I want your food.  My delicate palate calls for only the most exquisite, the most gourmet, the most…” She huffed then and looked to Rhianna.  “Mommy, make me some French fries!”

“You know we’re going to visit Santa,” Rhianna said.  “He’s always got tons of treats for us.  Why don’t you just wait a little bit and eat your dinner to tide you over?”

Michael leaned closer to her then.  “You don’t want the French fries to smell like cookies do you?”

“I do not want the French fries to smell like cookies,” she confirmed.

Zelda stood up then, bracing herself on Michael and Rhianna’s legs.  “French fry cookies sound like a great idea, and I don’t think you are giving them serious enough thought,” the pup said.

Michael smiled, and reached for another cookie then, breaking off little pieces that were free of chocolate for Zelda and Maisie.  The younger dog’s eyes went wide, and she opened her mouth, a few pieces of kibble falling out while she went for the tasty morsel.  Both dogs scarfed down their little pieces of the surprise treat, and that was enough to ensure that Zelda felt her hunger pangs.  When she saw no more cookie bits coming, she went to her bowl and relented, conceding for dog food instead of glorious people food.

“Now tell me we have egg nog to wash this down with,” Michael said, opening the fridge up to peer inside.

“Just a swig,” Rhianna said.  “We want to make sure we fit into whatever outfits Santa has prepared for us this year.”

“Don’t you think he would know if I was about to gain weight at the last minute?  Wouldn’t he want me to have this?” Michael asked.  “Besides, you bought the stuff.  You’re at least partially responsible.”

After he took a sip, she did too, but she made sure to put it back and close the fridge shortly after.  It was about that time that Maisie finished up her food.  She stretched for good measure—her silent way of giving thanks.  But she wasn’t about to waste a good opportunity for a post-dinner nap.  She jogged to the couch, and leapt up to the cushions, approaching the L-shaped side of the furniture.  There, a giant-sized blanket sat in a heap, and she meant to get comfortable within its folds.  She pawed at it, a pointless endeavor, for there was no way it would move on its own.

“Come on, blanket,” she said.  “Move.”

“You know there wasn’t any magic that Santa put on the stuff in our house, right Maisie?” Michael asked.  “Alright, alright.  But you can’t get too comfortable under there.  Midnight will be here before you know it, and I can’t be digging you out of there.  This huge blanket is starting to give me a sore back!”

Rhianna brought another couple of cookies from the kitchen then and handed one of them to Michael.  “It’s Christmas.  There are no calories.”

Her husband couldn’t challenge that logic, so he took the second cookie, and they tapped the snacks together.

Together, they both sank on the couch, and in time, Peanut and Zelda joined them there as well.  The whole family was in grabbing distance of one another, though Maisie was hidden underneath layers upon layers of blanket.  Michael, stuck beneath two animals, with Zelda huddled against his left leg while Peanut snuggled on his right, gently kicked the controller on the coffee table toward his wife.

“What are we going to watch today?” Michael asked as Rhianna reached for the controller.  “Which funny show are we going to laugh at for the hundredth time?”

“Let’s go with the greatest hits,” Rhianna said.  “We’ll watch—”

Before she could finish her thought, the wind outside roared louder than ever.  It was strong enough that she was worried it would rip the door open.  Without thinking about it, she climbed from her spot on the couch, and hurried back into the kitchen.

Zelda, primed for panic whenever she heard any sort of weather event, turned about and stood atop Michael’s shoulder.  “It’s going to blow the whole house down!” she cried.  “We need to get to the bunker!”

A sigh escaping his lips, Michael hugged the worried pooch tighter.  “It’s alright Zelda-pie.  It’s just a little bit of wind.”  He smooched her on the head before tilting his own in confusion.  “What bunker are you talking about?”  Furrowing his brow, he thought of all of what he and Rhianna called her boom-holes.  “Are you talking about wanting to hide behind the toilet?”

The skittish dog didn’t get a chance to answer before they heard an inquisitive noise from the back door of the house.

“Um, Michael?” Rhianna said.  “You’re probably going to want to look outside.”

That single, final word was all it took to wrench Maisie from her comfortable spot beneath the blanket.  She struggled against the heft and the size of the gifted cover, but finally spilled out of it onto the floor.

“She just got all snuggly,” Michael said.

“She’s fine,” Rhianna said.  “Besides, I don’t think we have time to get comfortable.”

Michael grunted as he climbed off the couch.  Before he even stepped into the kitchen, he could see that a strange phenomenon was occurring outside.  Snow whipped against the back door to the house, and it played a strange note as it found those cracks and crevices there as well.

Rhianna swept the curtain aside and confirmed what her husband was expecting.  The swirling vortex that was meant to come at midnight was already there, forming in the center of the backyard.  As it did, it churned out a blizzard of snow, like a blender without a lid, casting the white, flaky stuff everywhere.  The houses next to theirs retained their green lawns, and the adjacent street was untouched.  Daylight was fading, but that was the earliest it had been when the portal took shape.  As strange as that was, it also slowly grew from a small hole into a gaping maw.

“I’m glad I moved the fire pit yesterday instead of waiting till today,” Michael said.  “Something makes me think Santa isn’t a huge fan of littering.”  He lingered there at the door as well, looking at the vortex.  “This is the earliest that we’ve ever seen this come through.”

“And the earliest the animals have ever started talking,” Rhianna added.

“I guess we should get out there?” Michael asked.  “Should we change out of our pajamas or anything?”

Rhianna shrugged.  “I’d guess if we’re already being summoned to the North Pole, it’s more important that we just get there.  We’ve always been getting a spare change of clothes anyway.”

Michael nodded.  “Alright then.  Who’s ready for another adventure?” he asked, turning around to the fuzzy babies.

Zelda and Maisie couldn’t hide their excitement as they spun about or stood up against the window.  Peanut, too, was ready, the others were sure.  She sat patiently on her rump in the kitchen, as sure a sign as any that she was waiting for the door to open.

With a smile on his face, Michael turned to Rhianna.  “Whenever you’re ready, release the hounds.”

The woman nodded, and grabbed the door handle, eager to see what wonders awaited them at the north pole that year.  She pulled the handle down, and pushed on the door, but it didn’t budge.  She thought that perhaps the wind was pushing on the door, and she struggled to shove it open, but again, was unable to move it at all.

“Come on, Muscles,” Michael teased.  “All that time in the workout tower this year hasn’t paid off?”

“I’ll have you know I’m strong enough to lift an entire gallon of milk these days,” she joked back at him.  “Fine.  I give up.  You do it.”

Michael snickered then as his wife shuffled out of the way into the crowded kitchen.  “You just want to get your presents with no delay.”  He grabbed the door handle then and pushed the door forward as well.  Once again, there was no give.  Michael looked back at his family, a little embarrassed, and turned back to the door.  With his muscles straining, he tried to push on the door with all his might, and again, couldn’t accomplish anything.  He turned back to his wife, confusion in his gaze.  “Um… Is it a push or a pull?”

“How long have you been living here?” she asked, arching her eyebrow.  She hummed to herself, taking her place in front of the door again.  “Maybe it’s just not ready yet.  It’s still growing, and it’s usually the size of the a big ol’ pool by the time we go through it.”

Michael shrugged.  “Maybe.”  He leaned against the kitchen table, watching the slow expanse of the vortex outside.  “Well, I mean… I guess we’ll just wait until it grows large enough to let us walk out of the house?”

“This is weird, right?” Rhianna asked.  “The timing is all off, the door won’t open.  It’s almost like Santa’s got some silly trick up his sleeve this year.”

“Well, to be fair,” Michael said, “this year hasn’t exactly been known for its normalcy.  Maybe it was so bad, even Tellest felt a little bit of weirdness.”

It was Rhianna’s turn to shrug.  “Well, either way, we can’t let it get us down.  Christmas is a magical time for us, and it should help us forget just how suffocating this year was.”  She tapped her finger against her chin and hummed to herself.  “Why don’t we each talk about what we think we’re going to see when we get back to the north pole?”

“I think we’re going to see Svetlana!” Zelda exclaimed.  “Last time she said we were going to take a ride through the northern lights.  At least, I think that’s what she was saying.  She was monching on a carrot at the time.  Come to think of it, she could have said it’s a good thing she doesn’t have to squeeze into any tights.”

“I wanna see our friends again,” Maisie piped up.  “Halgrum and Beroras and Rurnar.  Maybe we’ll get another giant blanket!”

“Maybe,” Michael said.  “I wonder how those three are doing.  Do you think they managed to keep things pleasant between the three of them?”

“I’m not sure,” Rhianna admitted.  “If so, little a thing was able to set their greed to work against them, maybe something else urged them the rest of the way.  I hope not.  I think they’d be much better friends to one another than enemies.”

Michael grinned.  “Besides, that little thing brought them together, didn’t she?” he asked, pointing toward Maisie.

“I make everything better,” the little pup insisted with a smile.

She basked in the thought of her heroics—greatly exaggerated in her head—of the year prior.  Maisie hadn’t exactly set out to save the relationship between the dwarf, the elf and the giant, but she was sure to take credit for it when she was able to.

The family looked at Peanut then, who had yet to offer up any ideas of what she thought would happen.  She rolled her eyes and tilted her head then, as though her answer would be more matter of fact than opinion.  “Fiskeblugen warehouse,” she said.  “It’s a natural progression of my happiness.”

“Stop trying to make yearly fiskeblugen a thing,” Michael said.  “It’s not a thing!”

“Can you imagine?” Rhianna teased.  “You won’t even eat fish sticks after that one bad experience.”

Michael sighed and shuddered.  “Let’s try and get back to happy thoughts, huh?  Maybe our back door really is just sticking.  Let me try the garage door.”  He walked through the house until he reached the garage, letting a tiny gust of cold air that had collected there into the rest of the building.  “That’s weird,” he called out.  “This one’s not opening either.  Maybe it’s just because of how much wind there is.  No, wait.  This one is definitely a pull!”

“I don’t think that’s important,” Rhianna said.

Too far away to hear her, Michael climbed over old boxes and extra provisions then.  “I’m going to try the front door.  There shouldn’t be as much wind on that side,” he yelled.

“Michael!” Rhianna said.

He appeared in the kitchen again a moment later.  “Am I in trouble?”

Rhianna pointed out of the window, gaining his attention, and summoning him back to his spot.  He chose his steps just as carefully there, making sure not to step on any of the eager animals who congregated in the kitchen.

When Rhianna moved the curtain again, he saw what had interested her so.  The vortex had grown bigger then and still seemed to be picking up speed as it swirled.  Snow erupted from it as though it was an icy volcano, and the blizzard covered the yard in moments.

“Something is really funky this year,” Rhianna murmured.

Almost as though the portal had heard her words, the snow stopped funneling out of it.  Its frenetic spin never ceased though, and even looked as though it might have been continuing to pick up speed.  The ring of snow surrounding it began to take on a bright red glow, almost sparkling, even in the fading evening light.

The husband and wife inside the house realized that the shining ruby light was emerging from the vortex.

“Did Santa bring his own fire pit this year?” Michael joked.  He looked at his wife with a glimmer of pride in his eyes, but Rhianna shook her head, ensuring he knew he had botched that attempt at being amusing.

While they looked at one another, the door flung open, letting a howling wind enter the house.  The curtains flew to the side, leaving a path to the portal before them.

Zelda, the most eager of all them, sprinted out into the yard.  She, too, felt the odd sensation surrounding that year’s events, and she skidded to a stop just before the portal.  The pup felt rumbling far beneath her feet and lifted her head to investigate the twisting cyclone that led deep into the ground.

“Zelda!” Michael cried, running out into the snow in just his socks.  He scooped up the pooch then, and turned to look back at the house, where the rest of the family still observed from the kitchen.

Maisie, the bravest of the bunch and a bit concerned, took a step from the doorway, and sniffed at the air.  Her tail wagged as Michael pushed through the fierce wind.  With one hand clutching Zelda against his chest, he brought his other hand up to stave off the wind and the snow, blinding him to the rest of his loved ones.

Even through the blustery gust of white powder, Michael could see as the curtains in the house were drawn out through the open door.  It wasn’t as though the wind whipped it one way or another though.  He could see the constant pull, like something grasped it and gave them a fierce tug.

He felt the pull on himself then as well, like a rope had been looped around his midsection, and slowly pulled him backward.

“What are you doing?” Rhianna yelled.  “Get back in here!”

“I can’t!” Michael cried.  “Something’s wrong!”

“I’ll save them,” Maisie shouted, charging into the yard.

Whatever deep-seated, distant shepherding genetics Maisie had in her background emerged as she gripped at Michael’s pajama pants and started trying to pull him back toward the house.  Her little body, closer to the ground, didn’t seem to be affected by the power that seemed to draw Michael toward the portal.

His notion was further confirmed when he watched as the curtain was torn from the house and fluttered into the air before the portal snatched hold of it and inhaled it like some voracious beast.

While Maisie tugged at his pant leg, her efforts seemed fruitless, as Michael could feel the pull drawing him back further.  He bent low, tossing Zelda forward.

“Go on, both of you!” he said.  “I’ll be right behind you.”

Zelda skittered away, but Maisie lingered a bit.  The man realized that the dog was pulling in the wrong direction then and knew that the portal’s reach drew her in then as well.  Michael fell to his knees to fight against the powerful pull of the vortex, giving him just enough strength to carry on.  He reached under the dog’s chest then, and urged her forward, back toward the house.

“I can help you!” she insisted.

“I know you can,” Michael replied.  “Go ahead back inside so that when I get back in, we can try to shut the door.”

She did as she was told, but she tucked her ears back, feeling as though she wasn’t strong enough to help.  When she and Zelda arrived back into the house, they stood on the threshold, looking back with worry upon their face.

Michael dropped to his chest then, trying to crawl across the snowy ground with all his strength.  It was too late then, however.  The portal had too firm a grasp on him, and he couldn’t gain an inch.  He dug his fingers into the icy ground, desperate not to relent.

Maisie wasn’t the only one who ventured forth with heroics.  Rhianna emerged from the house, grabbing hold of the door frame while she offered up some means of escape for Michael.

He saw the broom then, it’s yellow handle like some golden beacon among the blinding snow.

“That thing is like ten feet too small!” he shouted.

“I have no depth perception!” his wife explained.

“Get me something like a rope or a cord!”

She disappeared back within the house, but the two dogs appeared at the doorway again.

“Catch!” Zelda cried.

One of their toys, a long, stuffed caterpillar, flew from the house, and Michael instinctively lifted his arm to catch it.  He hugged it tight, more to keep it from flying back into the portal.

“We brought you a rope!” Maisie exclaimed.

“Thank you both,” Michael said, fighting with every ounce of strength.  “But I can’t do anything with it when both ends are over here.”

Zelda looked at Maisie then, her eyebrows furrowed.  “You were supposed to hold onto your end.”

“Well how was I supposed to know?” the little black and white dog replied.

“Daddy, just hold on!” Zelda cried.

As Rhianna ran around the house, navigating the same mess in the garage that Michael had, she finally found what she was looking for.  She grabbed hold of it, charging through the untidy area until she reached the kitchen once more, where the cat rested on the runner leading toward the living room.

“You’re just going to sit there, Peanut?” Rhianna asked, shuffling past the cat so as not to disturb her.

“I’m supervising,” Peanut said.

Michael could feel his foot dangling into the portal, and his fingers left deep gouges in the solidified snow where he had been dragged backward.  Though he could not see it, he knew that the red glow that shone out of the vortex had grown bright indeed, as he could see ruby sparkles across the snow in front of him.

His wife emerged from the house, the vacuum in hand.  She plucked the cord from the side of the device and threw it in front of her.  But looped around as it was, only the first length of the cable cast out.

Michael sighed, and let his head bow into the snow.  “Just leave me,” his muffled voice called out.

“No, no I can do this!” Rhianna said.  She bit on her tongue as she set to work on the rest of the vacuum’s cord.  The woman unraveled the lot of it, and she looked up, watching as the crimson glow of the vortex grew in intensity.  A loud roar seemed to echo out of it, as though it was a ferocious monster meant to eat their whole neighborhood, starting with them.

She shook her head and tossed the vacuum cord again.  That time, it reached her husband.

But as Michael lifted his hands from the ground to catch the cable, the portal’s grasp grew too strong to fight.  He caught the cable but couldn’t keep himself from being sucked into the chasm in their back yard.

“No!” Rhianna cried.  On reflex alone, she lunged forward, and at once she felt the fierce pull of the portal.  She grabbed the cord, and to her surprise, it went taut.

She knew that her husband clung onto it still.

Inside the house, Maisie and Zelda stood on the vacuum cleaner, helping to keep it held down.

“Get over here and help us, Peanut!” Maisie ordered.

The cat, still sitting on the runner, simply looked at the two of them.  “You’ve got it covered.  There’s not enough room for all three of us on that growling machine.”

“Fine,” Maisie conceded.  “But there might not be enough room for you on that runner much longer.”

Peanut paused for a moment and looked to the side.  “Is that a fat joke?” she wondered.  But she looked down upon the runner then, and realized that it, too, was being pulled from the house, and at a much quicker pace than she would have liked.  She turned about, and began running in the other direction, but the runner slid from the house faster than she expected, and faster than she could handle.  Before long she tumbled from the lip of the doorway, unable to remain on her feet as the long run slid out from under her.

The disoriented cat heard a gasp as Maisie stepped off the vacuum.

“What are you doing?” Zelda asked.  “I need your help keeping this in place.  You’re the heavy one!”

“I’m sorry!” Maisie said, as she hopped forward.  Peanut looked up at her with big eyes as she felt the pull of the portal behind her.  “I’m sorry!” Maisie cried again, leaping toward the cat.  With just a sliver of hesitation, she chomped at the scruff behind her neck, eliciting a growl and then a dejected meow from the downtrodden feline.  “Ahm thorry!” she said as she struggled to bring Peanut back into the house.

Maisie let out a little yipe as the vacuum rolled out the door, Zelda atop it.  Her little sister let go of Peanut, who skittered back into the house, shivering from the snow upon her coat and her feet.  Maisie lunged for Zelda as she passed, but she moved too quick upon the rolling part of the vacuum.

A moment later the vacuum hit Rhianna in the back of the hand while she was still struggling to hold onto the cable and keep her husband from sinking into the unknown.  Zelda rolled from the vacuum then, and it took the woman a moment to realize who was barreling toward the portal.  She reached out—with both hands—but it was too late, and the auburn-furred dog fell away from her grasp.

“Zelda!” Rhianna cried.

“Ahh!” she heard, though it was not the dog who yelled.

Rhianna realized she had let go of the cable.  As she grasped at it again, the upright part of the vacuum rolled forward, and she caught it beneath her arm.  She couldn’t deny, though, that she was also being drawn into the glowing red maw of whatever strange portal had come to claim them that year.

Behind her, Peanut licked at her paws to try and stave off the cold.  A moment later she was joined in the house by Maisie once more, who shook her body, sending flying droplets over at Peanut, who sighed at her futile attempt to ty and warm herself up.

While she was looking up though, her eyes went wide at the sight of the table slowly sliding toward the doorway as well.  She bumped into Maisie, guiding her out of the way so that neither of them would be hit.

Outside, Rhianna couldn’t fight against the current any longer.  She slid on her rump until her feet nearly hung over the lip of the strange and frightening chasm.  With one last effort, she kicked with all her might, digging in her heels into the ice and snow.  Her top half kept going then, and it was only by pressing the handle of the vacuum into the ground that she stopped her endless fall toward the portal.

She looked over the side then, seeing the bright red color below—like a violent strawberry milkshake, she thought.  But there, hanging on for dear life with his hand wrapped around the vacuum cord, was Michael—and he once more had Zelda held tight against his chest.

“I think Santa just really wants to spend time with us this year!” he called out.

Up above, in the house, all the smaller items in the kitchen slid across counters and fell to the floor as the vortex drew them out.  Peanut hid in the corner of the room, just out of reach of the suction.  As courageous as ever, Maisie wore a determined gaze as she stepped toward the center of the room.

“Nobody better touch my blanket!” she grumbled.

The roar of the portal grew so loud then that the family thought it might have been a dragon instead of some festive holiday phenomenon.

“How are the neighbors not going to notice this year?” Rhianna muttered to herself.  As she spoke though, she heard the struggles of the other two animals who remained in the house.

“Peanut!” Maisie cried.

Both animals struggled against the pull of the vortex, but the cat—the lightest member of the family—had already been drawn outside.  Even with her claws, she couldn’t dig her feet into the snow, and without any traction, she hurtled toward the chasm.

Rhianna reached out, and Peanut wrapped all her limbs around the woman’s arm.

“Don’t let me go!” the cat pleaded.

Without Rhianna’s second arm on the vacuum, it shifted, and Michael shouted in surprise down below.

Rhianna dared a glance over her shoulder, back to the door to the house.  Maisie was outside their home then too, sprinting with all her might, though every step seemed to bring her further and further toward the portal.

“Keep running,” Rhianna called out.  “When you get to me, I’ll grab hold of you!”

That time came sooner than later, with Maisie running out of energy and stumbling.  The dog collided into Rhianna’s chest, ensuring that all five members of the DeAngelo family were together on the precipice, or hanging down into the schism in the earth.

“Michael, I don’t think we’re getting out of this one!” Rhianna called out.

She heard him cry out below, but contending against the loud groan of the vortex, she couldn’t discern what he said.

It didn’t matter anyway, she soon realized, for the ground beneath her had solidified in the sudden icy cold.  She watched as cracks formed around her, as though she lay upon a broken, frozen lake.

“Hold on, you two,” she said, resigned to whatever fate would take them.

She felt Maisie shiver against her chest, and she winced as Peanut dug her claws into her arm.

Then, the ground gave way beneath her, and the three of them tumbled into the seemingly endless pit.  Rhianna heard Michael’s shout then, and the rest of family added their own—a chorus of surprise and worry following them into the vortex.

*          *          *

A shout rang out from between his lips even as he felt gravity shift around him.  Michael knew that he no longer flew down toward the portal, but he clenched his eyes so tightly that he wasn’t aware he was moving skyward rather than careening toward the ground.

For a while, anyway.

“Daddy,” Zelda said, a calm in her voice.  “Daddy?”

Michael opened his eyes, just in time to see a slow fall back toward the surface.

“Daddy!” Zelda cried, for she was not so calm anymore.

The man worked at spinning his body, angling it so that he wouldn’t squish the poor dog when they smacked into the snow.  They landed with a thud, a gasp of air expelling from the poor fellow’s lungs as a cloud of snow splashed into the air.  Zelda bounced off his chest, and skittered into the snow, thankful not to be faced with the roaring monstrosity of the vortex that had taken them.  She sniffed at the ground but kept quiet.

Silence only persisted for another moment as Michael groaned and rolled to his belly, the snow covering his face as he thanked the solid ground beneath him.  Straining to climb to all fours, he traced Zelda’s footprints with his gaze, following them until he found her.

He arched an eyebrow, for she stood at a familiar fence.  Michael turned his head to the side, confirming what he had thought.

They were once again in their backyard, for their house was there before them.

“What the…?” Michael muttered.

As he sat upon his knees, an object fluttered into the air behind him.  Though there was no sunlight to cast a shadow, he felt its presence.  He looked over his shoulder, surprised to see the runner from the house flying across the yard.  It landed beside him, unfurling as it struck the snow.

It wasn’t the only other item that emerged from the portal.

A new choir of shouting rang out, and Michael watched as the rest of his family—and a vacuum cleaner—shot out from the gaping hole in the ground as though they were shot forth from a cannon.  They reached the apex of their flight a moment later, several feet in the air.

Michael clambered to his feet and spun about, hoping to help his loved ones down gently.  As soon as he turned, the vacuum flipped and landed on the ground beside the man, and its cable whipped about.  Michael ducked underneath, just avoiding a nasty lashing.  When he rose again, Peanut was the first to drop from the sky.  He held out his hands to catch her, but when she reached him, she sprang off him with her back legs.

“Rude,” he said, stumbling back a step.

By the time he watched the cat scamper away and he looked back up, Maisie was on her way down as well.  She collided into him with the same heft as a medicine ball, and unprepared as he was, Michael groaned and hunched over.  He knew that his wife wasn’t far behind, and he put Maisie down and urged her away.  Just as before, he had no further warning when he looked up.  Rhianna slammed into him, both falling to the ground then.

“I’m just going to stay here for a while,” Michael said, groaning as the snow soaked into his pajamas.  “The ground wants to be my friend.”

Rhianna moaned as well, sitting up and reaching for her back.  “Why couldn’t you break my fall a little softer,” she asked.  “Ouch.”

“I just played human trampoline to our three fluffies.  I’ve lost some of my elasticity already.”

His wife noticed what he had, moments before then.  The portal had sent them in a circle, it had seemed, for they were right back to where they started.

“What the heck?” Rhianna said.  “This isn’t the North Pole.”  As she stood—leaving her husband on the ground the recuperate—she faced the back of their house.

All three of the animals rested beside the door, closed since they’d left.  Maisie, who had the shortest hair, stood against the glass, pawing at it to be let inside.

“Maybe there were some technical difficulties,” Rhianna said.  “We did know that the timing wasn’t right.”

“I hope that doesn’t happen ever again,” Michael grumbled as he sat up.  “I don’t think I could bear it.  When I was hanging on the cord, it felt like it I was being stretched farther than my body could bear.”  He twisted his body and swung his arms out wide, trying to get rid of the aches that persisted in his back.  “I know I asked Santa to make me taller when I was younger, but I never had that kind of nightmare in mind.”

“You mean you didn’t have violent vortex possession on your 2020 apocalypse bingo card?” Rhianna said.

Michael stood then.  “Can’t say that I…” His words trailed off as he watched the portal close before him.  It had already shrunk considerably since his wife and the other two animals came through, and he found himself watching it until it disappeared completely.

“You know, you could have watched the portal close from inside the warm house!” Peanut grumbled, gaining Michael’s attention.  “If we have to go through with this again later tonight, you four can go on without me.”

“I don’t think anybody was expecting that, Peanut,” Rhianna said.  “It’s never been like that before, right?”

Zelda tilted her head.  “I don’t think so.  I don’t remember seeing Santa or Svetlana or anyone.  And we don’t have any presents.  I don’t think we went at all.”

“I crawled out from under my giant, comfy blanket for this,” Maisie added.

“Alright, alright,” Rhianna said.  She turned to look over her shoulder then.  “Come on Honey,” she said to her husband.  “We’re all soaked.  Let’s change out of our clothes and see what happens closer to midnight.”

Michael did as he was told, but before he walked toward the house again, he picked up snow-dusted runner, the vacuum, and a few stray papers that had followed them through the portal.  He paused to look at the neighborhood, and it seemed that nobody had reacted to the explosive vortex at all.  He shrugged and hummed to himself as he hurried to his wife’s side.

“It looks dark in there,” Michael said as he grabbed the open door and nodded for his wife to venture inside with the vacuum in tow.  “I hope the force of the suction didn’t break the lights.”

“I’m sure Santa would help us out with it if that were the case,” Rhianna said.  “Maybe we just didn’t have them on when we were looking out the back door?”

“I thought the TV was on or something,” Michael replied.

Together, the husband and wife entered the house, and were surprised to see all three of the animals waiting for their arrival in the kitchen.

“What’s this?” Rhianna asked.  “I thought for sure you would be on the living room floor, you would be in the window, and you would be under your massive blanket,” she said to Zelda, Peanut, and Maisie, respectively.

“It’s too dark,” Zelda said.  “We can’t see well enough to go in there.”

As soon as Michael slammed the door shut behind them—hoping that the portal wouldn’t return to rip it open once more—the lights in the room turned on.

The lights were not the same recessed lights that they’d had in their house for nearly five years.  They burned red, and they blasted heat from their specialized glassware.  At once, the family felt the strange increase in temperature in the room.  Michael spun about to open the door, hoping that he could help his family escape into the outdoors again.

Just as before though, the way out wouldn’t open, despite all his efforts.

“What are you waiting for?” Rhianna asked.  “Get us out of here!”

“I’m trying,” her husband said.  “It’s stuck again.”

He cried out and jerked his hand away.  His family heard a harsh buzzing coming from the door then, and the handle rattled as though it was electrified.  In only a moment, the handle retracted into the door—a feature that the husband and wife were sure didn’t exist in the original model.  With Michael safely away from the back exit of the house, a klaxon sounded.  Rhianna instinctively looked to the dogs, who shivered against each other due to the unexpected noise.

Though anxiety already coursed through them, another noise soon followed, as thick metal shutters dropped from the ceiling.  They reached the ground with an echoing thud, and Zelda whimpered, the pitiful little noise distinct between klaxon reports.

Before anyone could say anything to one another, the red lights burned a little brighter, and the DeAngelo family could feel the heat bearing down upon them.  The receptacles they fit within expanded further then, displaying some sort of caged ring.

Peanut, the only one closer to the ground who was still able to think straight, noticed that similar rings had emerged within several of the tiles on the floor, including one right beneath her stomach.

“Uh, what are these?” the cat asked.

As though the house had become sentient and wanted to answer her question, a gust of air blew out from the receptacle on the floor.  The other wider holes in the ceiling—including others that were not around the heat lamps, they soon realized—also blew out air.  An almost comforting hum accompanied them, and Michael and Rhianna realized they were like some sort of industrial-strength dryers.  A moment later, their clothes and hair were dry.

Rhianna looked down toward Peanut and Zelda, whose long fur had puffed out, leaving them looking quite silly indeed.  She couldn’t keep herself from snickering.

The cat looked up at her, her eyes narrowed and her ears back.  “You’ll forget this ever happened, I’m sure,” she insisted.

Before Rhianna could react, the lights and the dryers went off, leaving the place eerily silent.  And with the shutters dropped behind them, the strange rendition of their house went dark indeed.

“Alright, I’m really starting to think this isn’t our house,” Michael said.

“Starting?” Rhianna asked.

Ahead of them, a new light began glowing.  Soft and inviting, it came from their living room, like the gentle flickering of candles.

“What’s that over there?” Rhianna wondered.

Their silhouettes just barely visible in the darkness, the three animals spun about to look in that direction as well.

“At this rate, I’m not sure if I care what it is,” Michael said.  “It’s been a very tiresome ten minutes and I could use a real good sit about now.”

“I’ll share my blanket with you,” Maisie said.  “But just this once!”

“Pfft, you take every opportunity you can to snuggle with us,” Michael teased.  “You’re the least furry one in the house.”

Maisie shrugged and tilted her head, not prepared to fight against that rationale.  “Well… Last one to the couch has to lift the blanket!” she cried as she skittered forth.

Weariness apparent in the way they held themselves—even with the now comfortable warmth in their clothes, hair and fur—none of them were a match for Maisie’s pep.  Together, the older members of the family continued toward their living room.

When they entered the room, however, they realized it was not the one they had been living in all those years.  The way opened into a beautiful library, wider and longer than their living room would have been.  Bookshelves lined the walls on the sides of the room, and across the way, a strange glass case shielded a large ornate mirror.  Michael couldn’t help but picture how it would have looked in their house.

“This would be where the window would be,” he said.

Maisie looked to him with excitement in her eyes then.  “Window?” she repeated.  She charged across the large room, only skidding to a stop as she noticed the glass enclosure that protected the mirror.  She stood up as she reached the area, setting her front paws in place there.  When she did though, she noticed the peculiar sight before her.  “Hey!  Who’s that dog think she is getting in my window!”

“It’s a reflection,” Rhianna tried to explain.

“Yes!” Maisie exclaimed.  “A reflection of injustice!”  It took her a few moments to realize that the dog on the other side of the glass was aping all her movements and mannerisms, and a few more to realize that it wasn’t some rude pup making fun of her.

Michael was already observing other parts of the room.  The library was tremendous—possibly bigger than the entire first floor of their house.  But it was also full to the brim, with many books and furnishings to make it come alive.  A pair of pictures framed the glass box on the opposite side of the room.  When he looked to his right, he saw another enclosed painting on the wall beside them, a lovely gold border that sparkled in the flickering light of the chandeliers that hung from the ceiling.

As he considered those candles, he saw other flickering to his left.  He noticed a Christmas tree there, already adorned with decorations like tinsel and multicolored glass ornaments.  Frosted etchings were fashioned on their surfaces, and he found himself drawn to them at once.

While he found himself just as distracted with the tree as Maisie was with the mirror, Rhianna spent time scrutinizing all the other aspects of the library.  Peanut and Zelda sat at her side, following her gaze—there was a lamp-lit table just a little to the side of the room’s center, sitting beside a gorgeous sepia-toned globe, encircled by a golden ring.  More books sat on the other side of the room, in other bookshelves that stood taller than she or her husband.  The library looked as though it was owned by someone with a passion for books—not just a collector, but one who enjoyed reading at regular intervals, and who had perhaps the same sort of distracted personality as she and Michael.  The books on the shelves weren’t ordered in any fashion, it seemed, with authors and entries in series scattered from one bookcase to the next.  Some were aligned upright with the spines facing outward; some were stacked sideways, and some of those had their pages displayed instead of their spines.  None of them, it seemed, shared their space with any other trinkets or baubles, or even bookends, however.  The only semblance of décor besides the beautiful old covers was the silver garland that hung below the top shelves of the bookcases, and the ornaments that were hooked upon the various strands.  Both sets of decorations seemed to be the same ones that were strewn on the tree that Michael investigated.

As he circled the small Christmas tree—a young but healthy-looking spruce that stood shorter than the man—Michael came to face the way they had come in through.

“Uh… Things keep getting stranger in here,” he said.  “There’s a lock on the door we came through.”

“What door?” Rhianna asked as she stepped further into the room, observing everything with a look of whimsy upon her face.  She was finally able to reign in her excitement, and when she turned to look at Michael, she followed his gaze to the door he spoke of.

Sure enough, there was a wall behind them, and a door beside it.  No such obstructions existed in their home, furthering the idea that some trickery was at play.  Moreover, Michael’s indication that a lock sat upon the door was a bit of an understatement.  The husband and wife both approached the door and realized that there was no handle, yet a hefty padlock that was nearly as large as Michael’s head rested on a length of chain there.

“I didn’t even hear a door shut,” Michael said.  “What’s going on in here?”

Rhianna pushed on the door, wondering if the lock and chain were just for show, since it didn’t appear to be keeping anything fastened shut.  There was no give, however, and she stepped back a moment later, shrugging at the confusing situation.

“There’s worse rooms to be locked within,” she admitted.

“Speak for yourself,” Maisie whined as she stepped away from the glass enclosure.  “I see no food anywhere here.  And that guy in the window won’t tell me anything!”

Michael sighed then.  “I’m starting to think that this might not be part of the adventure Santa may have had planned for us this year.”  When his wife sent him an inquisitive gaze, he shrugged.  “You don’t think he’s been keeping tabs on us over the last nine months?  Do you think he believed us being stuck in a room was a great idea?”

“I see your point,” Rhianna said.  “But if Santa didn’t bring us here, who did?”

“Are we not going to see any of our friends this year?” Zelda asked.  Her voice was pitiful as she considered her first Christmas without visiting some of her favorite people.

Though both Michael and Rhianna opened their mouths to speak, they were not the first to offer words of consolation.

“Santa wouldn’t forget about us,” Peanut said.  She set one of her paws upon Zelda’s back, sending a mixed feeling of relief and panic through the dog’s body.  “I’m sure everything will work out.”

“Well for things to work out, I think we need to get out,” Rhianna said.  She tugged on the large padlock to see if it would release, but there was no sign of escape from there.  “It’s no use.  It won’t budge.”

“Is it a push or a pull?” Michael asked, a teasing reminder of his earlier brain fog.

His wife rolled her eyes and bent low to the ground, seeing that there was indeed a keyhole for the lock.  She hummed to herself.  “What kind of person locks someone in a room with the padlock on the inside?”

Michael looked at her and arched an eyebrow.  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

She grinned, rubbing her hands together mischievously.  “I think we’re in an escape room.  Whether it’s Santa or someone else entirely, well…”

“Is a ‘scape room kind of like a ‘scape goat?” Maisie asked.  “Because I think that would be fun to play with!  Or eat!”

“There will be no eating of any sort in here,” Michael said.  “Mostly because there’s nothing to eat.”

Peanut leaned over and whispered to Zelda then.  “Just give Maisie a minute,” she muttered.  “She’ll find something—even if it isn’t food.”

Zelda snickered to hear the little tease about her younger sister.

“Alright everyone,” Rhianna said, clapping her hands together.  “If this is an escape room, we’ll only have about sixty minutes to escape.”

“Right,” Michael said, as though the rules of typical escape rooms were finally dawning on him.  “And unlike the normal ones we’ve done, we don’t know if we’ll be let out if we don’t win in time.”

Maisie’s eyes went wide as she turned to look at him.  “But I have squirrels to watch from the window!  If not me, then who?”

“Exactly!” Rhianna pressed.  “We’ve got to start looking for clues, and we’ve got to start now.”

“We can just ask him,” Maisie said, spinning about to look at the mirror again.  She stood more to the side then, though, and she didn’t notice her reflection in the glass then.  “Wait a minute.  Where did he go?”

Michael took a few steps forward and tapped her on her rump, pointing toward the lower end of the bookshelves on the closer side of the room.  “Look for anything that’s out of place, alright?”

Peanut joined them there and peered from one outward-facing spine to the next.  “How are we to know what’s out of place if we’ve never been here before?” she muttered to herself.

“Aha!” Zelda called out.  “I see a clue!”  She hopped up on the chair next to the table in the center of the room and looked at the lamp that sat upon the furniture.  Covered in a dark maroon shade, there were etchings that looked like some sort of fancy script upon it.  “Look!” she cried.  “The sun!”

Michael smacked his forehead and turned about to look at the ornaments that hung from the garland that spanned the lengths of the bookshelves.  They were etched too, it seemed, with more angular symbols, almost as though they had been carved with sturdy stones.

“Huh,” he said to himself.  “These look like runes.  I really should have focused more in my old dwarven classes.”  Michael chuckled to himself at that thought.

Rhianna only gave a cursory glance at things as she moved alongside the bookshelves on the opposite side of the room.  She noticed some of the titles that faced her.  Most were old—classics among literature—although some were unfamiliar to her.

“The Poor Man and the Lady, Cardenio, Don Quixote, White Nights, Fortunata, Middlemarch.”  She hummed to herself as she looked at the covers, every now and then picking one out of their spots to shift it and get a better look at them.  None of the covers was thoroughly illustrated; no matter how old one seemed, they were all emblazoned with a simple gilded symbol, and an etched title, but not much else.

She shook her head and moved along, until she reached the wall beside the glass enclosure.  A pair of paintings was there, each of them showing old constructions of castles and fortresses.  One of them was no longer anything but a pile of ruins, an almost still stream depicted before it, and some autumn trees in the corner of the work.  The other showed a more distant building in the background, sitting upon the sea, spiked parapets reaching toward the heavens while a woman sat on a blanket and pondered her life in the foreground.

“Pfft, this is boring,” Maisie said.  She spun back to look for the other dog in the so-called window, but once again couldn’t see her reflection from that angle.  She did see the mirrored image of the globe though, and she grew interested in it.  “Wait a minute… That’s a big ball!  Somebody, throw it for me!”

Nobody paid attention to her request, all enthralled in their own searches—except for Peanut, who chose to observe everyone else’s failed endeavors in finding any sort of clue in the room.  Maisie was undeterred though, and she ran to the table, jumping onto the chair that Zelda stood upon while she sniffed at the old lamp before her.  The pup was momentarily distracted by her sister’s interest in the other nearby objects, but she hopped up on the table a moment later, careful to avoid stepping on the opened tome that rested on table.

Her shadow danced across the old pages of the book, and in the warm light of the lamp, the flicker across the yellowed sheets caught Zelda’s attention.  She looked to the book then, choosing to ignore the script upon the lamp.

The older dog’s focus fell to the pictures on the opened pages first.  At the top of the left page, a red rectangular sat centered on the page, with two dark blue perpendicular lines running through it.  Ancient, browning ink was written in the pages, and upon that one, strange shapes were made that meant nothing to the little dog.  She looked to the other side and noticed an illustration of a golden lion standing proud with an axe clutched in its hands.

“Hey, I found Peanut’s ancestor,” Zelda attempted to tease, though she knew better than to let the cat hear it.

She thought that Maisie had caught the joke though, for the black and white dog began wagging her tail, smacking Zelda in the face every few moments as she did.  Zelda blinked her eyes and turned her head away to avoid the surprisingly sturdy tail’s momentum.  She ventured a glance toward the globe, which Maisie pawed, sending it spinning about in its stand.

Zelda almost joined her atop the table to look at the sepia-colored sphere as it rolled endlessly, producing a satisfying sound that calmed her.  But as she stretched her legs to prepare for her jump onto the table, she spotted something on the pages in front of her that kept her rooted where she was.

“Aha!” she cried.  When her family all stopped to look at her, they caught her enchanted by her discovery.  “I can’t read!” she deduced.

The rest of the DeAngelo family returned to their own searches then.  Michael moved onto the tree in the corner of the room close to where they had entered.  Not much jumped out at him there, but he did notice that the ornaments clinging to its branches were of the same variety as those that hung from the garland on the bookcases.

Peanut, in the same predicament as her canine siblings, couldn’t really help to identify any of the writing on the spines or covers of the books.  Every few moments though, she would step closer to the shelves and sniff at one of the many volumes.

“I’m making a mental note,” she said.  “That one smells like fish.  I will return to that one later.”

Rhianna switched to the opposite side of the room then, looking at another two paintings of old architecture.  Nothing particular looked interesting to her on either of those—one displayed a castle town amidst a snowy landscape, and the other showed a long fortress battlement that spanned the length of the painting, with an opened portcullis in the background that led toward a beautiful pink and blue horizon.  But without any clues jumping out at her, she chose to look around, under and even behind the paintings instead.  Still, it didn’t seem that there was anything about the paintings that were worthy of note.  She thought to count the merlons on the castle walls, or the birds that flew in the skies.  But of the four paintings she saw, some did not have either of those features.

The woman recalled the painting on the other side of the room as well then, and she turned to gaze upon it.  Even with her contacts in, Rhianna couldn’t see across the room, and she merely shrugged, figuring she’d be back there in a moment anyway.  But as she turned her body back toward the wall beside her, she spotted something peculiar within the glass enclosure.  The mirror that Maisie had been fascinated with sat upon rails, it seemed, able to be shifted back and forth.  More interesting, however, there seemed to be a beam of light that fell behind it, falling from the ceiling of the room to land behind the mirror, and none had seen it before her.

“That’s interesting,” she said.

“I feel like I’m not getting anywhere,” Michael piped up then.  “I’ve been looking at these ornaments for what feels like forever.  I feel like I’m going to have to focus on the books soon, and that’s going to be a lot of work.”

“Tell me about it,” Zelda huffed.  “I can’t even get past this single page.”  The rest of her family thought she was making a statement about the subject matter, or her inability to decipher human writing, but they could hear her shuffling to the next page, and they could hear her sign then as well.  As they turned to look at her, she offered up some clarification.  “It just keeps coming back to this page!”

Sure enough, as she swatted at the pages again, even holding the book down for a moment afterward, the book worked some mysterious magic, and returned to its previous placement.

“That’s not normal,” Michael said, leaving the books and baubles behind.

Rhianna moved over to the table, too, and both she and her husband looked down at the book in front of Zelda, noting the same things that she had seen—although they could also see the words a little more clearly.  Though it was written with what looked like the common alphabet, they could see that the language wasn’t English, with a few umlauts scattered about here and there.

“What’s Norge?” Rhianna asked.

Michael looked to the items on the page, not feigning for a moment to be able to ready any of the writing.  But he closed his eyes as he searched for something in their past that was just on the periphery of his memory.

“Do you remember a couple of years ago when Santa gave us that book?”

“Oh yeah!” Rhianna said.  “So, does that mean…?”

“I think the book is trying to tell us about Norway.”

His wife shrugged.  “Yeah, but neither of us can speak Norwegian.”

“Or read it,” Michael said.  His eyes lit up, and he grinned as he looked at his wife.  “But maybe we don’t have.  Maybe this was just a small clue.”

“The globe!” Rhianna said, excited as she thought they were on the way to figuring out the first riddle in the escape room.

Throughout their conversation, Maisie continued to swat at the globe beside the table, panting in excitement as she watched it spin.  Michael and Rhianna arrived beside her then, and they stuck their hands out to slow the rotation of the sphere.

“Hey!” Maisie cried.  “I was having fun with that.”

“You’re supposed to be helping us figure out how to get out of here,” Rhianna laughed at the pup.  “What’s spinning the globe going to do?”

While she distracted Maisie, Michael slowly shifted the globe into place beneath a magnifying glass upon the golden railing that circled it.  Before long, he had found the country of Norway on its surface, and he situated it beneath the lens.

They heard a little shift from inside the globe then, and a red light cast out upon the floor.  At once, the fifth member of their family ceased what she was doing and hurried beside the table.  Peanut was entranced by the red dot on the floorboards, and she tilted her head as she studied it.

“Well, what did that accomplish?” Michael asked.

“Hey! The page is changing!” they heard Zelda say then.

Sure enough, as they turned to regard the dog and her book, they saw that the sheets flowed forward, away from the original picture of Norway, its coat of arms, and the unfamiliar writing upon its entry.  Stranger still, even though the pages moved, it didn’t seem to diminish the number of pages, or add to them on either side of the tome.  Michael shook his head as he watched the magic work, failing to understand it.

“Alright, what does it say now?” he asked.

Rhianna shrugged as she looked over the book.  “It’s still in a language I can’t read, but there’s another picture.  It looks like there’s some sort of symbol near the peninsula of Norway, if that is the same country we were just looking at.”

“Hmm,” Michael said.  “Maybe we have to…”  He paused, for when he looked at the globe, the rest of the continents were gone, with only an enhanced map of Norway and its surrounding countries displayed on the sphere instead.  “What the…?” Michael murmured.  “I mean, I guess it is magic.”

He didn’t hesitate any longer, shifting the globe a little bit at a time.  Maisie reached out and swatted at it as well.  Michael chuckled and pet her behind her ears.

“I’m helping,” she said.

“Yes, you are,” he agreed.

As they altered the position of the globe, the little red dot that emerged from the globe moved as well.  Peanut took great interest in it, following it as it moved across the floor, and eventually onto the shelf.  It took all her effort to keep herself from leaving into the air to swat at the little light.

None of the others on the table realized that Peanut investigated the light that cast out from the globe, too interested in ensuring the globe was positioned as it was intended.

“Does that look right?” Michael asked.

“A little to the left,” Rhianna said.

“The right,” Zelda corrected.

Rhianna paused to consider which way she meant, and then pointed toward the right.  “That way,” she conceded in agreement.

As Michael moved along the coast of Norway, words began emerging from within the tan-colored globe, the text colored in a bold red tint.  He wasn’t certain, but it seemed that they were likely the names of towns and cities.

“There!” Zelda said.

Michael had already felt the globe shift into place, and he watched as the name of the city came into view.  “Egersund,” he read then.

“What’s that mean?” Rhianna asked.

Michael shrugged.  “I’m not sure, but something had to have happened, right?”

When they turned around, they could see that the light was no longer on the floor, but three shelves up—just about eye level for the humans, but a sizable leap for the interested cat.  Peanut already lined up her jump, her legs shifting into place, her muscles tensing.

“Wait a minute, Peanut,” Rhianna said.  “What are you doing?”

If the cat seemed at all like she was concerned with being reprimanded, it didn’t show.  She hopped up to the third shelf with ease, and swatted as she landed there.

But Peanut didn’t calculate that taking a swat at the book that the red dot sat upon could have consequences.  When her claw came down, it poked between the pages there, and when she felt that sudden change in her poise, she panicked.  The cat kicked off of the base of the shelf, and began falling back, taking the book with her.

Michael was there a second later, catching the spooked feline.  The book fell away from her paw and landed on the ground below with a thud—and a stronger one than would typically come from a book, the family noted.

While Peanut squirmed, Michael was quick to place her on the ground, knowing that to do otherwise was to risk an unceremonious spring from the cat where her claws would dig into his chest or stomach.  She hopped away from him anyway and began licking at her paws as if her fall was nonchalant—everyone knew she was licking away her embarrassment, however.

Rhianna moved to grab up the book, and when she plucked it off the ground, she noted that it felt a bit heavier than she would have expected for a hardbound piece of literature.  She turned it about and looked at the title on the spine.

“Through the Looking Glass,” she said.

It didn’t have the author’s name—only the publisher emblazoned across the bottom of the spine in gold text—but Rhianna was certain that it was the sequel to Lewis Carroll’s adventures of Alice.  She looked at the front as well, where there was no title at all.  Instead, only the symbol of a crowned queen rested there.  Those with little knowledge of Carroll’s work might have otherwise been underwhelmed with the find, but Rhianna couldn’t hide her excitement.

She cracked the book open but was surprised (and a bit disappointed) to see that it was a false book, meant to look like one, but fashioned to open to a specific point that displayed a very specific bit of information.

“Look at this,” Rhianna said, showing the inside to Michael.

The contents of the book showed a runic symbol that looked almost like a table flipped upon its left side.  It was encircled by a ring of brown ink, similar in color to the text of the book that Zelda continued scrutinizing at the table.

Michael hummed to himself.  “I think I’ve seen this before.”  He raised his finger, and turned back to the shelves, looking from one hanging decoration to the next.  “I know I have.  I saw it on one of the ornaments on the garland.”

While he began looking from one colored ball to the next, Rhianna held the book open and began looking toward the tree.

All the while, Maisie resumed swatting at the globe.  The little red light danced across the bookshelves, the floor and even on Peanut.  She was insistent that she would no longer be caught up in any dot-chasing antics, and she made a point of looking away as it flung this way and that.

Rhianna pointed from one ornament on the tree to the next as she worked her way around and from the top down.  Every few moments she looked back to the book to remind herself of how the rune was composed.  Finally, she saw one that matched upon the tree.

“Aha!” she said, gaining Michael’s attention.

He turned, and she held an open hand beneath a blue ornament upon which was etched the strange rune.  She presented it with great pride, though she left it where it was upon the tree.

“That’s so strange,” Michael said.  “I’m certain I saw that same rune hanging from one of the strands of garland.”

“It’s okay,” Rhianna said.  “Just know that I won.”

Michael furrowed his brow and looked to the garland as though it had betrayed him then.  But he arched his eyebrow in curiosity then as he looked to the other side of the room then.  He grinned and pointed there, past the table where Zelda and Maisie still played with the book and the globe.

“There,” he said.  “I knew that I had seen it somewhere else.”

“Oh, forget you and your good eyes,” Rhianna grumbled.  “But if there’s two of them, maybe one is right, and one isn’t?”

“I dunno,” Michael replied with a shrug.  He crossed the room and plucked a red ornament off the string of garland, observing it a little more closely then.  It seemed just the same as all the others: a white etching of a rune within one of the colored spheres.  “Maybe the color of the ornament is important?  What color is the rune made of in the book?”

“It’s just brown, like old ink,” Rhianna said.

The two converged near the center of the room then, along with their pets.  Even Peanut had hopped onto the table then, looking about the room for more items that might have been of use to them.

“Here,” Michael said.  “Let’s look at them side by side.

As he and Rhianna brought the two ornaments together, they were surprised to watch the pair of them disintegrate from their hands.  Both baubles turned to colored dust and scattered away from them as though a gust of wind had entered the room—though neither of them felt it.

“What just happened?” Rhianna gasped.  “I promise, I didn’t break anything!”

“I didn’t either,” Michael insisted.  “I think that something was supposed to happen when we brought them both together.”

As though the room itself was listening to the conversation, it seemed to moan as a scrape of glass on stone reported in the room.  Everyone looked about then, trying to determine where the noise came from.  Rhianna, however, was already familiar enough with the glass case that surrounded the mirror, and she looked in that direction.  Maisie realized what she was looking at then as well, and she ceased paying attention to the globe to spring down to the chair, and subsequently the floor.  She and Rhianna both reached the glass enclosure while it still sank into the ground then.

“My friend!” Maisie said, spinning about in excitement as the last several inches dropped into the hollow area beneath the floor.  “You’re free!”

Michael, Zelda and Peanut lingered by the table, wondering what it was that the other two had discovered.

Rhianna continued forward, until she was reflected in the mirror then as well.

“Wait a second,” Maisie said, ceasing her spin while her eyes grew wide.  “My friend has a mommy too!”

“That’s you, you nitwit!” Peanut grumbled, exasperated.

While Rhianna circled the mirror, looking for anything else that might have appeared off, Maisie sat down in front of it, lifting one paw, and then the other.  Finally, she realized that the dog on the other side of the looking glass was indeed just her mirror reflection.

“I knew that,” she said.  “I knew that the whole time.”

“This is what happens when we get no social interaction all year,” Zelda said, glancing at Michael and looking for sympathy.

Rhianna hadn’t heard the comment, but even if she had, the idea of being stuck in an unfamiliar place held precedence in her mind.  She focused on the task ahead and cast her gaze once again to the rails that the mirror sat within upon the floor.

“I noticed those earlier,” she said, more to herself than to the dog by her side.  “I think the mirror might be able to move.”  She reached the looking glass and placed her hands against the sides of the stand that kept it upright.  Then, with all her strength, Rhianna began pushing upon it, budging it forward inch by inch.

She felt it relent a bit more, and she noticed that Maisie joined her there, pushing against the mirror as well as she stood upon her hind legs.

A moment later, the golden light that shone from the ceiling cast down in front of the mirror rather than behind it, and Rhianna knew she had succeeded in her latest undertaking.

“Yes,” she said, shaking her fist in the air.

“Hurray!” Maisie cried.  “Um… What did that do?”

“What do you mean?” Rhianna asked.  “It made that light come down from the ceiling.”

They both stared at each other in silence then, for the truth of the matter soon became apparent.  The light casting down meant nothing without further context.

They both heard a sigh from behind them then.  Michael made his way from the table, passing them on their side.  He grabbed the mirror and gave it a little push at its top.

“It’s got little bolts to keep it in place, but it’s meant to be angled.”  He turned to look at the direction where he was sure the light would go, and let out a little whistle, catching the attention of the older pair of animals.  “Zelda, Peanut, slide out of the way.  I don’t want to blind you.”

Before either of them could think of a silly or snarky comment, he shifted the mirror backward.  The golden light fell upon the bottom of the mirror as it tilted upward, and the reflected illumination radiated beneath the table and then upon it before hitting the opposite wall.  The light dispersed as it shone further, but Michael already realized what was going to happen.  As the widened beam of light—nearly imperceptible from that distance—fell upon the painting near the door they had entered from, it caused a reaction in the painting.  The white sky above the fortress on the canvas turned black, except for a few stray lines that even Michael couldn’t see from that far away.

Rhianna hurried to the other side of the room and studied the revealed secret.  “It’s a constellation!” she explained.

“Do you know which one?” Michael asked.  “I don’t know what a constellation is going to tell us otherwise.”

His wife tilted her head as she considered the question.  “I think it’s the Big Dipper,” she said.  “But it might be the Little Dipper.”  She hummed to herself.  “Either way, it’s a dipper.”

Michael hummed to himself again, trying to make sense of why such a combination of symbols would show up within the painting.  As best he could tell, there were no ornaments fixed in such a way that would show a similar layout as the constellation.

“Hey, the book changed again,” Peanut said.  “I don’t know how to read any better than this one,” she went on, nodding toward Zelda.  “But it looks at least a little more like the stuff you two know how to read.”

Michael and Rhianna converged on the table once more, and their sight settled on the book.  Sure enough, the pages finally showed something in a language they understood.

The two pages seemed to be broken down into sections.  The writing had diminished in size, but there was much more of it.  There were numbers, too, centered at the top of each of the pages, with category classes underneath.

“Oh wow,” Michael said.  “I haven’t seen these in forever.  I think I need to get to a library more often.”

“Is that the Dewey Decimal System?” Rhianna asked.

“It sure is,” he replied.  “Look for astronomy.  Maybe there’s some books here that have some relevance to the Big Dipper.”

The left page focused on the last several entries of science.  570 was biology, 580 was plants, and 590 belonged to animals.  The right page, on the other hand, showed the first few categories of the technology classes.  600 was general technology, 610 was medicine and health, and 620 was engineering.

“Alright there’s something particular we’re looking for here,” Rhianna said, looking at all the books in the shelves before them.  “Do you see anything about astronomy or astrology in there?”

Michael peered at the technology classes, tracing down each of the categories.  “I’m not seeing anything in here.  What else could we be looking for?”  He bowed his head and tried to understand what it was that the Big Dipper was trying to tell them.”  He snapped his fingers as he made a revelation then.  “What is the Big Dipper part of?”

Pausing for a moment to try and remember, Rhianna tilted her head.  “The Bear?” she guessed.

“Ursa Major,” Michael agreed.  “So maybe we aren’t looking for stars or anything related to science, but…”  He moved to the first displayed page of the book and stopped his finger upon the category for animals.  “590 should be the one we’re looking for.”

“590 what?” Rhianna asked.  “It isn’t like…” Her voice trailed off then as she looked to the shelves in front of them.  “They weren’t there before, were they?”

She pointed to the bookcases, even looking over her shoulder.  There were gold etchings within the wooden cases, each shelf corresponding, it seemed, to a different numbered category.  The shelf associated with animals was across from the one on the others side of the room that held the false book for Through the Looking Glass.”

Rhianna made her way in that direction, perusing the titles displayed on the spines of the books from left to right.  “Moby Dick, The Call of the Wild, The Tale of Peter Rabbit…” She paused then as she looked at a book with a green cover, with little animals drawn down the spine in gold.  “Baloo is a bear, right?” she asked.  It was a rhetorical question, but she heard Michael confirm her thought.  With no further hesitation, Rhianna reached up to grab the book.

The woman was surprised, then, to feel no give between it and the other books surrounding it. Going even further than the single false book on the opposite side of the room, she realized that every book on the shelf before her was fake.  With a grin on her face, she reached up, and pulled on the top of The Jungle Book.  It tilted toward her, but never left its spot in the bookcase.

A rewarding tone sounded, like a distant trumpet that heralded the family’s victory.

Rhianna expected some other kind of reveal then, but she wasn’t expecting the bookshelf itself to push backward, away from her before shifting to the side.  The work that she had done to unveil the secrets of the library had revealed a brand-new room, it seemed, though it was still shrouded in darkness.

“Huh,” Michael said.  I would have expected to find a key for that padlock or something.”

His wife shrugged.  “Maybe we still do have to get back out by going that way.  But perhaps the key is deeper within that room.  The only thing is, I can’t see further than my hand in there.  Do we have any light to brighten it for us?”

“The mirror only pivots backward and forward,” Peanut said then.  “And I don’t see anything else in here that you can use as a light source.”

“You just gotta be brave!” Maisie yelled, running into the darkness.

“Wait, Maisie!” Rhianna cried, reaching out as the little black and white dog sprinted past.  “We don’t know what’s in there!”

Maisie’s quick dash stopped when she disappeared within the dark veil.  But within just a few seconds, a distant light in the room offered the DeAngelo family the way forward.

“See?” the pup called out from within the next room.  “It’s just like back home with the sleepy lights that wake up when I’m there!”

All the other members of her family could see her then, and they could see her tail wagging vigorously as she took account of everything that was there in the room.

“Now this is what I’m talking about!” she said.  It didn’t take long for her to charge deeper into the room then, out of sight from the rest of her family.

Rhianna was quick to follow her, but the others remained by the table in the library.

“Whoa,” Rhianna said.  “This room is huge.”

Michael looked to the other two animals and shrugged a bit.  “Well, there goes my hope that it was just one last little room that had the key to the padlock,” he said.  He tousled the other dog and the cat along their backs before he started after his wife and Maisie.

Peanut jumped down from the table and moved on ahead of Michael, but Zelda turned about to use the chair as another step on the way down.  Before she did though, she noticed something peculiar on the table.

“Ooh, shiny,” she said.

That caught Michael’s attention, and he looked over his shoulder to see that the older dog was entranced with the book that had given them little clues throughout their time in the library.

“What’s got you so spellbound?” he asked.  He returned to Zelda then, and knew the answer to his own question a moment later.  The tome was devoid of any writing, then, but it almost looked as though a rolling golden wave cast over the pages.  “I think the book wants to come with us,” Michael said.

Zelda nodded excitedly, and she pawed at it then.  “You’re going to have to get it though.  I don’t have thumbs.”

Laughing, Michael scooped her up first.  He pecked her on the head before setting her on the ground, and then he turned back for the book.  Another glimmer of gold seemed to travel from one corner of the book to the opposite side, perhaps a little more fervently then.  Michael grabbed the tome and closed it, half surprised that it let him.

The front cover of the book was just as mundane as the others that he and his family had seen in the library.  An evergreen tree was framed in a small circle about the size of a quarter, though it had been emblazoned in golden ink.  Just beneath it, the title of the book stated that it was called Yuletide Stories.

“Well, this certainly will be one we’re going to tell,” Michael said as he gathered up the book.

He heard a chorus of excitement and contentment coming from the other room then, and he hurried along to join the rest of his family there.

Their reactions were well-earned, it seemed, for that room seemed even grander than the library.  Its reach stretched far and wide, a roaring fireplace much further to their side, along where the looking glass was in the previous room.  Along the way there, however, was a feasting table that was filled to the brim with hearty and savory food, glasses of eggnog, and a few festively shaped cookies scattered about here and there.

“This looks just like last year!” Maisie cried in excitement.

“And with no magical gemstones you can swallow in sight,” Rhianna teased.

“I thought it was a tasty dessert!” Maisie grumbled.

While the rest of his family looked about at the food upon the table—for not enough cookies had been eaten at home—Michael continued to inspect the second room they had found their way into.  It almost seemed as though the feast for them was a reward, but Michael thought otherwise.  It was a distraction, and yet another room to escape, he was sure.

On the opposite side of the room sat a medieval kitchen, with stone-laden walls, a brick oven that had more char marks within and around it than the fireplace on the far wall, and some indentations in the wall where food or wood storage would remain.  Pots, jars and small barrels lined shelves against the wall, no doubt filled with baking goods or herbs or the like.

Above them, it looked as though a thatched roof rested atop the room.  Michael narrowed his eyes, knowing that if it was accessible, they’d likely be able to tear through it, and escape to safety.  But he was certain that there was some treachery afoot.  They wouldn’t be allowed to leave—not without completing the game.

Still, he wasn’t about to jump to conclusions without testing his theory.  He walked to the feasting table, and grabbed warm, baked roll off a plate near the center.  The way he walked up to that single piece of bread with purpose was not lost to his family either.  They turned and looked to him while he gazed up at the ceiling.

Then, without hesitation, he threw the roll into the air.

“Why would you do that!” Maisie cried while everyone else looked on in confusion.

But Michael’s hypothesis was correct, he realized, for the roll slammed against an unseen layer of glass that protected the thatched roof from would-be escapees.

He caught the hunk of bread on its way back down, and he tore off a piece in his mouth, humming as he considered the trap in which they remained.

“Well that was odd,” Rhianna said.  “And yet, not the oddest thing that has happened to us today.”

The members of the DeAngelo family picked at the food on the table then, realizing that all of it was quite warm and fresh.  It appeared the person who had set it out for them had quickly set it all upon the table as they were finishing the puzzles in the library, and somehow disappeared from the room before they could be spotted.

“Solving puzzles is hard work,” Rhianna said with a shrug, before she reached for a glass of eggnog.

Michael nodded, and picked at a few of the various appetizers upon the table.  “Just make sure we don’t lose sight of our real goal here.  We need to get out of whatever this place is, and if there is a time limit, the clock is still ticking.”

As he spoke, he moved to the other side of the table, and pushed the chairs there closer, helping the animals get a better spot to determine what they wanted.  Maisie was the first to jump up to the banquet table, her eyes growing wide at the sight of all the food before her.  Peanut and Zelda joined her a few moments later, each curious to see what options they had.

The cat sniffed discriminately from one dish to the next but didn’t take a bite of anything while her sisters noshed on a few items they could reach.

“I don’t see any fish,” Peanut said.

Rhianna looked about, noticing that none of the dishes present qualified as what she would consider a main course.  That included the prized food choice for the persnickety puss.  “Maybe these aren’t the full meals,” Rhianna said.  “It’s practically criminal not to have fish on Christmas Eve,” she argued.

“Christmas Eve, Eve,” Michael corrected.  “And maybe the entrees haven’t been brought out yet.”

Maisie stepped up a little higher against the table, her eyes gleaming at that point.  “You mean there will be more?”

Zelda, quiet until that point as she savored the food she carefully selected, tilted her head.  “Maybe we have to find our own dinners,” she said.

Rhianna grinned.  “That’s right!  And maybe when we do, we’ll find the key that gets us out of the library, too.”

The family heard a scraping toward the library then and turned to regard it.  The bookcase that opened into the second room slid shut again, as though the feasting hall had been listening to the conversation.  Far enough away from it as they were, none of DeAngelo family even made a move to stop it.

Michael turned back to his loved ones and sucked the flaky crumbs of the bread off his fingers.  “Something makes me think we’re not going to be going back to the library.”  He felt a rumbling along his side then, and reached for his pajama pocket, as though he was looking for his phone.  When he recalled that he hadn’t had it with him when he’d gone through the portal, he arched an eyebrow, wondering what he had felt.  The sensation moved through his arm then, and he realized that it was the book in his hand.

“What’s going on?” Rhianna asked when she saw him open it.

Her husband’s reaction grew stranger when his eyes displayed a reflection of flames.  “I’m thinking the book is trying to tell us something.”  He swept some of the dishes, cups and baskets upon the table to the side, and set the book down upon it.

From there, the rest of his family could see that a new image was shown in the open tome, the left page in motion with a crackling, faded red flame.

“What does it mean?” Zelda asked.

Rhianna shrugged.  “The only fire we’ve seen in here at all is the hearth over here,” she said, pointing to the fireplace.

She looked in that direction, looking at the mantel above it.  Some strange trophies—drinking steins and stone carvings—rested there, lending the room some extra personality.  They kept up with the Scandinavian feeling that they had experienced through the library’s clues.  Still, looking at them, Rhianna couldn’t think of anything over there that would lead to a revelation of any sort.

“Hey, look!” Peanut said, leaning closer to the book then.  Even her excitement was apparent as she spoke, though when the others looked at her with appreciative smiles, she shrank back and looked away.  “I mean, it’s interesting if you’re into that sort of thing.”

By the time the others shifted their glances to the tome instead of the cat, they noticed what she had as well.  Words began to show in the fiery picture on the left side of the page.  The right page remained blank, even after the message was displayed.

Michael placed his finger to the page, noticing that even the depiction of the fire within the book seemed to emanate with a strange heat.  He shook his head, dismissing the interesting notion as he read along with the words that shimmered in the dark brown ink that seemed to appear from thin air.

“Find the page bare, and then prepare,” the man said.

“A secret note, the bill of fare,” his wife spoke the next line.

“In the text revealed by flames,” Michael said next.

“Study close and watch the names,” Rhianna finished.

“I’ll say the next line!” Maisie announced, unaware that there wouldn’t be another one.  She looked at the two rhyming couplets, and imagined it saying something she would understand.  “Maisie has a grumbling belly.  Give her a peanut butter and jelly.  A sandwich is fine, but if you can’t tell, she’ll eat from the jars, just as well.”

Michael and Rhianna paused before they looked at each other and laughed.

“Well that was adorable,” Michael said.  “But I don’t think there’s any peanut butter and jelly here.  We’ll just have to try and see if we can make our way through these puzzles.  Besides, there’s plenty of yummy stuff here for you.  In the meantime, let’s see if we can’t figure out the riddle we just read!”

The five of them broke from the table then, each going in their own direction.  Michael headed around the table, back toward the kitchen, while his wife moved closer toward the fireplace.  Zelda and Peanut looked on opposite sides of the room but found the walls mostly unremarkable—with the one separating them from library mostly too dark to see anyway.

Maisie pushed aside one plate after another, saying “nothing under that one,” each time she discovered no hidden clues.  And each time she found that nothing was present, she rewarded herself with a little snack.

Beside the fireplace, Rhianna took closer account of the statuettes and curios that rested upon the mantel.  She looked at them from right to left, noticing the strange, ancient-looking items.  There was a stone tablet upon which had been etched a dagger; an old hammer-shaped trinket with the tree of life emblazoned into its side rested upon its blunted head; a bowl sat in the center of the mantel, just above where flickering flames made their way up toward the chimney.  The bowl was as antiquated as the rest of the items, but it looked a little less worn.  Two heads extended from either side, fashioned to look like horses or dragons, though the finer details were lost to time.  Though it seemed to be fashioned out of old wood, a closer inspection found it made of stone that had a wood-like appearance.  Rhianna noticed a strange circular depression in the bottom of the bowl, and shrugged, thinking whatever liquid it had held over its history had left it dilapidated.  A statuette beside it illuminated some old god, but just as the figureheads leading off the bowl, a great deal of the features had eroded with time.  An ale tankard rounded out the group of items atop the mantel, the old cup losing some of its luster, but preserving much of its character.

Rhianna tried to get a better look of the horn-shaped tankard, but she found that it was fastened to the mantel.  One by one, she confirmed that each of the five items there were stuck firmly to the stone shelf above the fireplace.  She grumbled as she turned her attention elsewhere, knowing that time was proving to be against them.

On the opposite side of the room, Michael returned to the kitchen.  With a little more focus and attention, he scrutinized every inch of the place.  Special utensils—ladles, a large whisk, and a baker’s peel hung from the wall by the room’s masonry oven.  Michael wore a confident grin as he opened the oven, thinking that it would be the perfect place to hind some sort of clue.  When he looked inside though, there was nothing special about it.  A smaller slot was fashioned beneath the main gate, where wood or coal could be ignited to heat the area above.  There was nothing there either, as though all the fuel had been stripped of the place.

“I guess they don’t want us baking anything in here,” Michael muttered.

As he continued to peruse that part of the kitchen, Peanut walked behind him, looking at a bench that sat against the opposite wall.  It wasn’t meant for sitting, adding to the aesthetic instead, as it held lengthy brown containers of different shapes upon it.  The cat stood up on the bench, sniffing at the containers, but judging them unremarkable.  Before she could look away though, she noticed a peculiar item squeezed between two of the tubes.

“Umm, servant?” she asked.  When she didn’t hear a response from Michael, she looked in his direction.  He was still busy looking at the objects near the oven, and he didn’t hear her.  “Hey, you,” she said, but again was ignored.

Peanut sighed, then, and reached up trying to grasp the object—a piece of parchment, it seemed—between two of her claws.  It was just out of range, and she struggled to stretch a little further.

The cat lost her balance then, tipping forward and tapping one of the tubes.  She meowed in fright as the container fell to its side and rolled off the bench.  With the fur on her spine sticking up, she took off back toward the feasting table.

Michael finally turned around then.  His interest was piqued by the strange sounds that had rang out behind him.

As he took a step toward the fallen container, the parchment that it had leaned against fell without the support of another object holding it upright.  Michael watched as it landed on the bench and noticed that there was nothing written on its face.  It almost seemed as though it had been pulled out of the magic tome they had taken from the library.

In order to be certain, he plucked the page up from the bench, and looked at the opposite side then as well.  Sure enough, it was also blank there.

“Hey, look what I found,” he announced to his family.

“You?” Peanut grumbled.  “This should be my glory.”  She slinked beneath the table, looking at the rest of the family through narrowed eyes, as sour a puss as she could muster.

As Rhianna hurried toward him, he was already on his way over to the fireplace.

“The ‘page bare’, right?” he asked.  “Now it’s time to see if a little heat gives us a message of some sort.”

“Let me see that?” Rhianna asked, peering around Michael’s arm to look at the blank page.

“There’s nothing on it,” Michael said as he turned it to better face his wife.

“Aha!” she shouted, snatching the paper from his hand.  She hurried over to the fireplace; her eager anticipation was apparent to the rest of her family.

“More power to you,” her husband said.  “Just remember, whenever a kitchen and heat intermingle, you seem to have a bad time!”

Rhianna hesitated before she reached the fireplace and considered Michael’s words.  Her shoulders slumped and she pouted a bit before she held up the parchment, awaiting her husband’s arrival.

“Gimme that,” he said, snatching it back from her.

He leaned over and kissed her on the head before he nudged her closer to the fire, ensuring that it was an experience they would both witness together.

Even Michael hesitated to let the flames touch the paper; he didn’t want their latest clue to go up in smoke.  But as he pushed it further toward the hearth, he was excited to see brown-tinged words appear on the parchment.  Even when the fire seemed to flicker against the back of the page, it was safe from any harm, not even a charred smudge appearing across its face.  A moment later, the reaction was complete, with a plentitude of new clues revealed.

Michael held it out to Rhianna, who grabbed it in her hands once more, as though she was the one who had unlocked the latest mysteries.  She reviewed it for a moment before tilting her head in confusion.

“What’s this?” she asked.

Maisie lowered her head and turned around, wondering if perhaps she was in trouble for sampling all the different foods upon the table.

“Apple-crusted Meatballs?” she read aloud.

Michael arched an eyebrow then.  “You know, I wouldn’t be opposed to trying that.”

“Rutabaga Roulade,” his wife said next.

“Okay, you lost me,” he said, throwing up his hands.

“Olle… Ollebrod?” Rhianna said, trying her best to find the correct pronunciation.  “Smoked salmon, eel bisque…” her words trailed off then, but even Peanut had grown interested.

“Someone called my name, right?” the feline asked.  “I distinctly heard my name.  And something about feeding me all the fish.”

“We don’t have any fish,” Michael said.  “Just a…a weird menu.”

Rhianna sighed.  “It can’t just be a menu, right?”  She looked at the page, pointing at some of the other items she saw there.  “I don’t even know what some of these things are.  Nesselrode?  Emmenthaler?  Are these foods or cartoon characters?”

“Look at the names,” Zelda said then.  When her family brought their attention to her, the little red-haired dog looking up at them with adorable eyes.  “Look at the names,” she said again.  “Wasn’t that what the riddle said?”

“Study and watch the names,” Michael recalled.  “But I don’t see how that will…”  He paused then and turned the page slightly to the side.  The man blew out a sigh then and handed it to his wife.

“What is it?” she asked.  “Did you figure it out?”

“Look at the first letter of every item,” Michael said, unable to prevent a grin from stretching his lips.  “Think Shakespeare.”

“Shakespeare?” Rhianna asked.  “She pointed along the left margin of the page then, and followed it along, realizing soon after what was being spelled.  “A rose…by…any other name,” she said.  “Well I feel silly.”

“It got us both,” her husband insisted.  “But it didn’t get smarty pants Zelda apparently,” he said, gently tousling her hair, earning a few happy pants from the pup.  “But here’s something important: just because we know the idiom, I don’t know what to do with that information.”

Rhianna shrugged.  “Let’s just look around and find the flower, I guess.”

“I’m certain I haven’t seen any around here,” Michael replied.  “We’ve been all over this room, and I haven’t seen any flowers at all, roses or otherwise.”

“Maybe it’s a garnish?” Rhianna wondered.

“Perhaps,” Michael said.  “But usually you only see that with main courses.  What about salads, maybe they snuck a flower in with all that green?”

His wife turned to regard their pets.  “This is where you three can come in handy, you know.  Have any of you seen a pretty flower or anything in here?”

When neither of the dogs or the cat could offer up an idea, Michael turned back toward the table.

“Time to consult the tome!” he cried out.  When he arrived at the table and adjusted the book so that he could observe it a little more clearly, he could see that the riddle they had seen had not changed.  “I don’t get it, though,” Michael said.  “What is it talking about?”

Almost as though the page Rhianna held in her hands felt pity on the man, she felt a slight vibration between her fingers.  She noticed a faint glimmer within some of the writing, then.  Before long, a short line stretched beneath several of the words.

“By any other name,” she read aloud.  “Flower, right?”  Rhianna passed by the table, holding the page out almost as though it was a dowsing rod.  She reached the kitchen, and looked about, seeing the oven, the implements used to bake, and the containers on the bench upon the opposite wall.  “This is where you found the menu, right?” she asked.

While Michael looked up from the book, Peanut let out an uncharacteristic little growl.

“I was the one who found it,” she muttered, turning away from everyone.

“What are you getting at?” Michael wondered.

“Oh nothing,” Rhianna said, though a wide grin stretched across her face.  “It’s just that I’ve figured out the riddle with ease.”  She set to work on the cannisters upon the bench, pulling their lids off and inspecting the insides.  “I’ve worked on enough cookies this year to know what flower the book and the page are talking about.”

“…flour,” Michael said.  “Alright, that’s pretty clever.”

“Aha!” Rhianna said.  The last cannister she grabbed—the others filled with oats, sugar, and salt—had the right consistency of flour.  When she knew she had the proper container she shook it about and could hear a clunk within.  “I think we have a winner.”  As she spoke, little clouds of flour rose out of the cannister after it was aerated.

Rhianna tried to reach her hand into the container, but its neck was too narrow.  She considered, for a moment, asking one of the animals to lend their hand instead, but she knew that they wouldn’t have the reach needed to grab whatever item was hidden inside.  Dejected, she pursed her lips, and tapped her chin.

“What’s the matter?” Michael asked.

She shrugged.  “I just feel bad for whoever is going to have to clean this mess,” she said, looking to the floor.

“I mean, just remember that even though we’re sort of having fun with all this, we are kind of their prisoners right now,” her husband said.

Rhianna shrugged in the opposite direction then, nodding in agreement.  “Yeah, you’re right.  Well then… Sorry, floor!”

As soon as she finished speaking, the woman flipped the cannister, letting the flour pour to the ground.  More seemed to come out than she expected, and both she and her husband stepped back from the mountain that landed upon the floor.  They watched as a small iron object dropped into the white stuff that had hidden it just moments before.  Though more of the powder continued to fall from the container, Rhianna set it aside, placing it back upon the bench.

“So, what was our little prize?” Michael asked.

He and his wife both heard an excited gasp behind them then.

“Snow!” Zelda cried.

Before Michael or Rhianna could let her know that it was not, in fact, snow, she sprinted from her spot beneath the table and leapt into the air.

“No!” Rhianna protested.

But it was too late.  Zelda crashed into the mound of flour, sending plumes of powder flying in every direction.  The dog’s coat was covered, and it coated her face as well.

“This is some weird snow,” she said.

Her family could see her eyes begin to narrow and knew what was about to happen.  Zelda let fly a shaking sneeze as she fought against the tickling sensation in her nose.

“Oh, I hope they don’t try to bake anything with that,” Rhianna said.

“By the time anyone gets in here, we’ll be well past the five-second rule,” Michael insisted.

“Hey, I found something,” Zelda said.  She started digging in the flour, sending little puffs flying behind her.  A moment later, she buried her head in it, only to rise a moment later with the once-hidden object clutched in her teeth.  She tossed it into the air then, and Michael caught it on reflex alone.  “It’s getting in the way of all my snow.”

Rhianna chuckled and shook her head.  “Zelda, it’s not… You know what?  You do you, puppy.”  She turned her attention to her husband then, who observed the small iron object.  “So, what have we got?”

Michael smiled, and opened his hand, displaying the old key that they now had in their possession.  “I think we’ll be home before too long,” he said.

They both looked toward the library then, waiting to see if, perhaps, the bookcases would slide back out of the way to let them try their hand on the lock.

Rhianna tilted her head and glanced at her husband.  “Maybe the key doesn’t go to that lock?” she suggested.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Michael lifted the key, taking a better look at it.  It was certainly an antiquated item, with a dark brown color and a few rough spots.  Still, it looked plenty sturdy, with the strangely shaped teeth intact.  Michael moved his fingers, looking at the hilt of the key, which was flat and emblazoned with what looked like a tankard of ale.

“Let’s take a look at our drinking mugs,” Michael suggested.

“And there was a cool-looking horn on the mantel,” Rhianna said.

Together they returned to the familiar parts of the room and set to work investigating the objects they had mentioned.  Try as they did, though, they couldn’t find any keyhole to insert their newly found clue.

They heard a burp from across the room, and saw Maisie flump down on the table after having eaten her fill of the feast before her.  “This is very hard work,” she said.  The little pup had fallen upon the open tome then, and as she fought off a food coma, she watched as the writing beneath her changed shape and size.

“Hey,” she called out.  “Some new stuff is showing up in the book.  I can’t tell if it’s tickling me or if that’s just my stomach.”

“Well you ate enough for all of us,” Michael said, handing off the key to his wife before he reached the well-fed dog’s side.  “Now how am I to see what’s been written while you’re over here laying all the pudge all over the pages.”

She lifted her head to glare at him, but she gave up on the action just a moment later.  “Was gonna grumble,” she said.  “Too much work.”

Michael took a seat behind her, and scooped her off the tome, eliciting a mighty groan from the pup who was about to pop.  He set her down in his lap, not completely ignorant to the small bit of extra weight she’d acquired since their captive stay.

Before he could even pull the tome a little closer toward him, he could already hear her snoring as she went limp and drifted off to oblivion.  He smiled as he stroked her back, but he turned his attention to the book shortly after, lifting it up to see the new clues.

“Alright, you ready for this?” he asked Rhianna.  “I go through a door, but never come out; come look on the floor and you’ll find me about.”  He arched an eyebrow, looking to his wife across the way, who was busy brushing off Zelda’s fur—and to no avail, for the dog immediately jumped back into the white powder.

“It’s a strange one,” Rhianna said.

“So, whatever we’re looking for is on the floor,” Michael said.  “Doesn’t that seem to be something our lovely little fluffs could help us with.”  He gave Maisie a loving little nudge to try and rouse her.

The sleepy pup stretched and moved away from him then.  “Give me five more minutes.  I’m not ready for school.”

He fought against every instinct to laugh at the silly comment, but he couldn’t hold it back entirely.  As his body shook from his chuckling, Maisie began to slide out of his lap.  He caught her at the last moment, placing her down upon the ground with a gentle touch.

“Come on, none of you are gonna help?” Michael asked a moment later, seeing Peanut still giving him the cold shoulder.

“Wait a minute!” Rhianna said.  “Maybe one of them already is helping.”  The words were spoken just as Zelda took another flying leap into the air, only to crash back down upon the pile of fluffy flour.  She held her hands out, displaying the dog in all her glory as she dug her paws into the pile of flour.  “Zelda’s got the right idea,” Rhianna said.  “If we’re trying to find something on the floor, the flour will definitely help us see if anything is out of place, right?”

“That could work,” Michael said.  “But of all the things we have in here, a broom is not one of them.  I guess we’re going to be on our hands and knees sweeping flour everywhere.”

Rhianna had a mischievous grin upon her face before he even finished speaking.  “Before you come over here, grab one of those table settings.”

He knew better than to question her motives, as he could hear the confidence in her voice.  He grabbed one of the settings, just an old rag, really, and tossed it to his wife from the other side of the pile.

She bent low, ensuring Zelda could see her.  “Hey puppy, do you want to play tug of war?”  Rhianna let the piece of cloth hang from her hand then and watched as Zelda’s tail began wagging—slowly at first, and then quicker with excitement.  “I betcha can’t get it!” she teased.

Zelda was ready and willing to prove her wrong.  She leapt into the air as best she could with the unstable mound beneath her feet, but she caught hold of the rag, nonetheless.

Rhianna pulled on the lead at once, lightly dragging the dog across the floor.  Zelda whipped her head back and forth, the only fight she could give as she slid forward.  Rhianna turned about and Zelda remained playful and eager as ever, still a puppy at heart.  Before long, the entire floor in front of the oven was covered in a fine layer of flour.  But without anything seeming to jump out at them, Rhianna kept up her game.

With a splash of white, she and Zelda tore through the larger pile that remained in the entrance to the feasting area.  Zelda growled a little louder, but she didn’t relent, and her tail continued to wag.

Michael hopped out of the way as Rhianna used her makeshift mop to spread a mess instead of cleaning one up.  As she and Zelda continued to play, though, Michael looked and saw something peculiar on the ground.  It was a place that seemed untouched by the flour.  As he drew nearer to it, he understood the riddle a little better.

“A keyhole,” he said.  “That’s what goes in a door but doesn’t come out.”

Satisfied that their game had been a good idea, Rhianna released the place setting, conceding the game to the lively pup.  Though she no longer had an opponent, Zelda shook her head, whipping the cloth back and forth in victorious celebration.

Michael fell to a knee, and framed the keyhole with his hand, but he swept away the surrounding flour in the hopes that no more would fall into it.  It wouldn’t do to have the keyhole jammed, he thought.  When Rhianna reached him there, she too drew close to the floor, inserting the iron key, which entered the aperture without resistance.  As she turned the implement, she felt a pop beneath her, and she watched as the floor rose, revealing a hatch that had been hidden into the tightly packed floorboards.

“That’s a little unsettling,” Michael said.  “Are we off to the dungeon next?”

Rhianna climbed to her feet and moved about to the front of the hatch, noticing the wooden steps that descended into the darkness down below.

“Can you go down first?” she asked Michael.

He arrived beside his wife then, looking into the abyss with her.  Together they noticed as a frightening fog seemed to lift from the hidden compartment.

“Maybe we’ll go down together?” Michael wondered aloud.  “No?”  He bowed his head in defeat before Rhianna offered up any sort of verbal protest.  “Alright.  You three, stay right where you are, okay?  This could be dangerous.”

Maisie had fallen asleep once more, snoozing upon the floor beneath the table.  Peanut continued ignoring Michael and Rhianna, taking time to lick her paws and swipe them across her head.  Zelda still played with her new rag, chewing on it between vigorous shakes of her head.

Michael sighed and began the slow descent into the unknown, with Rhianna daring to follow behind him, her hand gripping his shoulder.

As they went, they couldn’t ignore the frigid cold that they seemed to freeze their skin.  Michael breathed out a deep breath, and even in the darkness, he saw wisps of steam leave his lips.

At the bottom of the steps, he stumbled forward, expecting to keep drawing further beneath the feasting hall.  Rhianna’s fingers dug into his skin, keeping him upright and close to her.

“Thanks,” he said.

“I was going that for me,” she admitted.  “I don’t want to be all alone down here in the dark.”

As Michael took another step forward, two torches burst into flame upon the walls framing the bottom of the steps.  Rhianna cried out in shock, and hopped forward, burying her face against Michael’s back.

Her husband couldn’t keep himself from giggling then.

“I don’t think we have anything to worry about,” he offered up then.  “Look: it’s just a cooling room for ale and eggnog and water.  Or maybe that’s vodka.”

Rhianna ventured a glance over Michael’s shoulder, and saw that against the back wall of the cellar, a few crates were stacked, with long glass pitchers there atop them.

“Is that everything?” she asked.  “There’s no way out or anything?”

“I could move those boxes,” Michael replied.  “But no, I don’t think we’re going to be able to find a way out from down here.  My guess is that the next clue is in one of those big pitchers, or the crates beneath them.”

Shrugging, Rhianna stepped forth.  “It would have to be in the eggnog pitcher, right?  We would see something in the ale or the water.”

“I mean, that’s a solid guess,” her husband said.  “But there’s no guarantee it isn’t in the crates instead.  And I’m not planning on sticking my hand in all that eggnog—though I’m not completely opposed to the idea of drinking it.”

“That’s a lot of eggnog,” Rhianna said.

“That’s a lot of eggnog,” Michael agreed.  He hummed to himself, and then looked to Rhianna then.  “Hold on.  What if we just do what you did with the flour container?  If there’s something in the pitcher, and we shake it, we should hear something thumping against the side, right?”

“Well…” Rhianna said, not quite so sure about that thought.  “It’s pretty thick stuff.  We might not be able to see if anything was there at all.  But it’s worth a try.”

“What else have we got going on?” Michael asked.  He stepped forward and grabbed the tall container, lifting it and grabbing its neck in both hands.  The man swirled it around, and brought it higher, turning it about so the torchlight illuminated it for his wife to see.  “Anything?” he asked.

“I don’t see an object inside,” she replied.  Rhianna leaned down and looked up from the bottom, but she shook her head a second later.  “There’s nothing there.”

Michael lowered the oversized pitcher and walked it back to the crate, but he took a sip of the eggnog before he set it down.

“Hoo… That’s some powerful stuff.”  He smacked his lips and shook his head then.  “I did not expect that to be an alcoholic eggnog.  That’s not going to make looking for clues any easier.”

“Or maybe it is,” Rhianna suggested.  “Maybe we just need to be in the right state of mind.”

He nodded.  “If it’s true for the year, it might be true for escaping this place.”  He couldn’t tell if his wife was joking, and when he looked at her, he could tell she was waiting to see a reaction from him as well.  “I mean, it is that kind of year,” he said.  Still he turned away, back toward the stairs.  “Look, we know there’s a clue down here, otherwise we wouldn’t have been told to look for the key.  Let’s go get the animals to see if they can help us and…”

Michael’s words trailed off when his wife spotted something along the wall.  He followed her gaze then, noticing that a stack of smaller boxes sat along that part of the room.  But it was the object upon one of them that stood out—not least of all because of the small flag that rose out of it that had their surname upon it.  A small round cake that had been lightly dusted with powdered sugar sat beneath the flag.

With it in her hands a moment later, Rhianna removed the flag, and handed it to Michael to keep in one of the pockets of his pajamas.  “One more yummy treat,” she said.

She split the cake in half and handed a hunk of it to her husband.  As she separated it though, she noticed that it had a green coloring inside, and she froze as she considered it.  Michael caught onto it a moment later, and grabbed his wife in a loving embrace, kissing her on the forehead.

Though Rhianna contended with her memories, and how they left her feeling, she emerged from her introspection with a smile upon her face when she looked back at the green cake in her hand.  She placed her head upon Michael’s shoulder, and took a bite of the cake, noting and enjoying the familiar taste.

Michael moved to take a bite out of his side of the cake as well, but as he brought it toward his lips, he noticed that the flag was not the only thing that was found inside of it.  A scrap of paper, folded over several times, hung out of the green, spongy texture.  Michael pulled out the parchment as he took a bite of the cake, and he worked at unfolding it with a single hand.

Before long, the message, written on the same material as the other clue that Peanut had found, flashed before his and Rhianna’s eyes.

“Instead of looking for what you can see,” Michael said, “find what you can’t, invisibility.”

Rhianna turned the parchment toward her as well then and read the next lines.  “Hiding in plain sight, unable to see it about, you must turn over its home, and pour it all out.”

“So, we were on the right track with the pitchers, I think,” Michael said.  “It was just that the eggnog one wasn’t what we were looking for unless we wanted to straight up pass out under the table up there.”

Each of them placed their pieces of the cake back upon the plate behind them, and they returned to the other two pitchers, with Michael grabbing the one filled with ale while his wife grabbed the colorless liquid.  They both swirled around the contents of their container, and in time, they heard a sound within one of the pitchers.

“It’s mine,” Rhianna said.  “But I can’t see anything inside.”

“Well, the clue did mention that we wouldn’t be able to,” Michael replied.  “And it also said we’d have to pour it out.”

Rhianna nodded.  “I still can’t help but feel bad about the mess we’re about to make.”

“There was a basin upstairs in the kitchen,” Michael said.  “That should help us keep the mess down to a minimum.  And even if it doesn’t, again, we’ve kind of been kidnapped here.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” his wife said.  She handed the pitcher to Michael after he placed the one which contained ale back upon the stack of crates.  Rhianna picked up the cake plate then before heading back up the stairs.

After Michael followed her up the stairs, he felt eyes upon his back, and he turned about to look behind him.  All three of the animals were there to the side of the hatch, looking upon him and Rhianna.

“Everything alright?” he asked.

“You were gone forever,” Maisie said.  “You can’t just go and leave us!”

“I told you we were going down there,” Michael protested.  “You were mad at us, you were having a full-belly nap, and you were busy playing with your new toy.”

While her husband had a full conversation with their pets, Rhianna placed the cake on the bench beside them, and grabbed hold of the water pitcher while Michael wasn’t paying attention.  She moved to the basin then, and slowly emptied the container.

As the water poured out, the inside of the pitcher flowed back and forth, and every few moments, Rhianna thought she saw the torchlight flicker a little differently upon the item inside.  Once it was empty of liquid, she tilted it toward her open hand, and caught the object that had been hidden inside.  She found herself looking at a small glass orb, sturdy enough that it could survive rolling about inside the container.

“Hey look,” Rhianna said, turning around to catch Michael’s attention.  “I found a ball.”

Before she even finished saying the final word, she understood what mistake she had made.

Zelda’s eyes went wide, and she stood on her hind legs in excitement.  “Ball?” she cried and hurried toward Rhianna.

“No puppy, I can’t give you this one,” the woman said, a little dejected that she would be disappointing the playful pup.  “We need to use this for whatever puzzle comes next.”

“But… do you want a little bit of cake?” Michael asked.

“We can’t give them that either,” Rhianna said.  “It has pistachios in it.”

“It might,” Michael said, but they’re crushed so fine that they wouldn’t cause any belly problems for the animals.”

“Just a little bite for them then,” his wife said.  “Because I plan on eating the rest of it.”

She did as she said she would, splitting up small pieces of the green cake for the animals who knew she had something they didn’t.  Rhianna tousled their fur after she gave them their portions, as sure a sign as any that they weren’t about to get any more.  She sat there on the bench for a while, savoring the taste of the dessert—whoever had baked the confection was keen on the familiar recipe, and she supposed she knew who would have been aware enough to have watched in been made.  She held the plate out for her husband then, who took another small chunk of the cake for himself, though he did sneak two more small pieces for Maisie and Zelda, and another even smaller one for Peanut, who demonstrated that she’d already had her fill by sniffing at the crumbs for a few moments before moving on.

Rhianna found herself looking from one part of the room to the next, wondering what the point of the glass sphere was.  As she looked past the kitchen, to the feasting area, she felt a chill upon her neck, leaving her to think about the flickering flames in the hearth.  Her eyes went wide with anticipation, and she placed the dish on Michael’s lap, slapping his knee for good measure as she rose.

“I know where this is supposed to go,” she said, rolling the ball about in her palm, though she cupped it somewhat to keep it protected.  “Is everyone ready to solve the next puzzle?”

Michael groaned as he stood, stretching sore muscles and a bulging belly.  “I think we’re all so full of food and drink that it’s difficult to answer such a question.”

“Well too bad,” Rhianna said, proudly striding toward the fireplace.  “I’m ready to show that we’re not going to be stuck here much longer.  And as much as I like the nice little experience that…whoever is forcing us through, I’m ready to just relax, and if that means pushing a little bit further while we’re here, I’m okay with that.  So come on, the rest of you.  Let’s get moving so we can get find our way to Santa and help like we do every year.”

Zelda perked up at the name of the jolly fellow they saw every Christmas.  “You think we’ll really see him?” she asked.  “And Svetlana and the elves?”

“It’s been four year—this will be our fifth,” Rhianna said.  “We haven’t missed him yet, and I don’t think he would want to skip out on us this year.”  She continued along, but she could hear the rest of her family tagging along as well.

“She’s right you know,” Michael encouraged.  “We need to finish these puzzles not just for us, but for Santa, just in case he needs us.”

Maisie’s tail was wagging then as well.  “He made my first Christmas a really happy one,” she mused.  “I’ll always make sure I do well for him.”

Even Peanut followed in step then, although she did it accompanied with a roll of her eyes.  “If for nothing else, he’s let me voice my concerns once a year.  I just wish we’d had a little less of a hectic ride this year—I had planned on teaching you how to speak cat.  Why should I do all the heavy lifting all in this single day?”

They followed Rhianna to the hearth then, surrounding her, and watching on with curious gazes.  She dropped the glass orb into the bowl that sat at the center of the mantel, and sure enough, it fit into place with a subtle thunk.

All at once, the flames in the hearth blew out, leaving the feasting hall immediately darkened.  The lantern light behind them didn’t offer much in the way of illumination, but they could still see the shadowy outline of the hearth.

And they saw as it shook before they felt the trembling beneath their feet.

A new light shone as the chimney split in two, separating and pulling bricks one way or another.  Even the bowl slid away from half of the mantel, and the family could see that it had sat fixed upon the mantel as part of the puzzle.

Before them, yet another staircase rose into a new room, that one glowing with a subtle blue light.

“Let’s be careful going up there,” Rhianna said.  “We don’t know what strangeness awaits us next.”

Inspired by her words and her eagerness, however, the animals rushed forth, bounding up the steps, with Maisie leading the way, and Peanut trailing behind, more curious than anything.

“Do you feel brave enough to venture up this one first?” Michael asked his wife.  “Or do you need me to lead the way?”

“My babies are up there, and if anything were to happen to them, I would never forgive myself,” Rhianna replied.  “You can meet us up there when you catch up,” she said.

Michael wasn’t about to let the rest of his family go without him, and he hurried up behind his wife.  They climbed the steps, seeing a twilight blue wash over the higher steps.  The staircase turned abruptly to the side, rising toward whatever new clue-filled room awaited them.

Much to their surprise, the DeAngelo family saw windows on their right side when they arrived there at the top of the steps.  The room was dark still, with the only light coming from the nearly full moon that peeked out from behind the clouds.  There were tables set up at all four corners of the main room, with what looked like a small study on the opposite side as the stairs, a few sparsely filled bookshelves on either side of the opened area.

The clouds slid aside, allowing the moon to shine into the pair of windows without obstruction.  With new illumination, subtle though it was, the recent arrivals were able to see the strange objects upon the tables there.  Open books that appeared much older than the one which provided them their hints and riddles sat upon the workstations.  One of the tables had a slew of herbs and plants that lay upon the workspace or hung from strings set up above or against the wall.  A mortar and pestle lay to the side, next to a scrap of paper that had been folded many times and bore the stains of many powders that had been muddled against it over what looked like years.  An old candle was melted down to its final inch or so.

To its left, the second workstation that was brightened by the moon caught the white light a bit differently.  Scattered atop the old wooden desk was an array of glassware.  Bulbous flasks and decanters held tremendous amounts of colored liquid, and a tiered set-up upon the corner was filled with a translucent fluid that allowed the visitors to see the various flora that were floating inside.  Little wisps of steam emerged from the top of the central device and were it not for the moonlight seeping in from the cold outside, the DeAngelo family might not have noticed them.  Tiny plants in equally tiny pots were situated about the desk as well, leaving it looking oft used and appreciated by whoever called it their own.

Across the room, the other two tables were a little more difficult to see, though every few moments, a stray flash of light seemed to emerge from the far corner.  With enough attention drawn to that part of the room, one of the DeAngelo family members was bound to identify the cause of the intermittent illumination, but none expected Maisie to be the one to spot it.

“Is that a firefly?” she asked.  “Oh, I remember warm times.”  As she spoke the words, she shivered at the thought of the bitter cold that they had emerged from.

“They’re not quite fireflies I don’t think,” Michael said.  “It looks like they might be lumibugs,” he said, speaking of their multicolored Tellestian equivalent.

The table closest to the family was also the one that went with the least amount of light.  But, due to its proximity, the members of the family could see the outline of the table a little better.  It had strange devices on and around it, which no one could clearly identify.  It looked as though some kind of mad inventor made that workstation their home, as it looked as though it was put together by someone with no grasp on their sanity.

“Well, look at it this way,” Rhianna said.  “This is the smallest room we’ve run into, so we might not need to spend as much time here.”

“Maybe,” Michael replied.  “But it’s also by far the most confusing-looking room we’ve run across.  And I’ve got to say, I didn’t exactly do so well in chemistry back in high school—you know, almost before this latest millennium.”

“That’s alright,” Rhianna said.  “We have our little book of clues to help us with any trouble we may periodically find ourselves in.”

Michael lowered his head and smacked the heel of his hand against his brow.  “Look, we’re all getting tired here, and if this year has done anything to us, it’s already made us a little stir crazy,” he said.  “So why don’t we all look around and see if there’s anything we can figure out.

“One question,” Peanut said, alternating glances between the rest of her family, and the center of the room.  “What is that?”

Michael and Rhianna both took another step forward, spotting an object that seemed to rest in the center of the room, but which was miniscule in size.  With the moon landing upon it, they had missed it, for it looked like a brightly lit pyramid which sat within a flowerpot that was only about the size of Michael’s thumb.

Zelda, typically a little apprehensive of things she didn’t understand, took a courageous step forward, hunching down low on her approach.

“Whoa,” Rhianna said.  “What’s with the brave new Zelda?”

“It’s getting late, and I’m sleepy,” the pup admitted.  “This is too much excitement for me for one day.  I’m gonna find out what this thing is!”  When Zelda arrived there before the strange object, she tilted her head, looking under the pyramid as best she could.  She sniffed at the air there as well, trying to get a sense of what the item was.  “I think it’s just a jar of dirt,” she speculated.

Rhianna felt brave in the dog’s presence then, and she approached the miniscule flowerpot as well then.  She bent low to grab it, but even though she thought she had a firm grip upon it, she found that she couldn’t pull it from the ground.

“What is this?” she asked.  “The world’s heaviest twig?”  She turned to her husband then, who stood watching from the top of the staircase still.  “Do you want to get over here and use your muscles?”

“Nah, you’ve got this,” Michael teased.  “Honestly though, I don’t think it’s worth the effort.  We’ve seen that when something’s not supposed to move here, it won’t.”

“Well someone is going to trip on this, and it’s probably going to be me,” Rhianna said.  “Alright, well where are we supposed to start?” she asked.

“There more of us than there are tables,” Michael said.  “Maybe we can each take one, and one of us can double up and help someone else?”

All three of the animals were already on their way to the table with the herbs upon it.  Maisie hopped upon the chair in front of the desk and leaned closer and closer to a string of plants, parting her lips as she neared it.

“Maisie, you’re not supposed to eat anything in here,” Rhianna warned.  “That was the whole point of the last room, I’m sure.  We feed you until you can’t eat anymore.”

“You don’t know what she’s capable of,” Zelda said then.

While the two dogs sent each other challenging glares, Peanut jumped up on the chair and bounced higher up, onto the desk.  The cat almost knocked the mortar and pestle off table for her effort.  But she ignored that near mistake, standing on her hind legs to sniff at the highest strand of herbs which were hung to dry.  That mix of green and purple seemed to call to the feline.

“What are you doing, Peanut?” Michael asked.

The cat abruptly turned to regard him, her eyes going wide as if in embarrassment.  Peanut didn’t waste any time leaping away from the desk to land on the floor.  She took off running, toward the darker side of the room.

“Ok, Peanut, you take one of those tables I guess,” Michael said.  “The doggies have this one over here—Zelda watch Maisie and make sure she won’t eat anything she shouldn’t.  And then Rhianna, is there one you’re looking at with a little more excitement?”

His wife pointed toward the desk in the better-lit back corner.  “That one looks like it’s got all kinds of little succulents and potions.  If I was working here, that would be my desk for sure.”

“Well then I guess I’ll have Peanut as my cubby mate,” Michael said.  As he stepped forward, he saw that Peanut sat underneath the farthest, table, where the lumibugs seemed to dance around in a rather large flask.  “And it seems it’s my role to play the mad scientist.  Better get to work.”

The other members of his family set to their tasks, looking at the odd objects in front of them—except for Peanut, who watched with curiosity as the bugs in the flask before her bounced from one side of it to the other, their thoraxes flashing intermittently.  Michael grinned before opening the book as he planned on placing it down on the desk he designated as his own.  The pages glowed a bright gold, though no words of wisdom were written on them.

He hummed to himself, confused by the lack of direction.  Still, he used the extra light offered by the tome, and set it into place on the desk between some of the odd devices that were in place there.  Michael also had enough light, then, to see the strange loop that sat on the floor—a perfect circle that had a wire running from one of its ends, which escaped beneath the carpet.  Confused as he was, he simply shook his head, turning his attention back to the tome to see if he could get an idea of where to start with things.

“Alright,” Rhianna said.  “Whenever you’re ready, tell us what we have to do first.”

Michael stared a while longer but was certain that nothing was changing within the book.  “I think we might be on our own for this room,” he said.  The book isn’t giving me anything.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Maisie said.  “Let’s go back downstairs and—”

“No,” Rhianna said.  “No more food.”

“That’s not what I was going to say!” the little pup argued.  “I was going to say we could get my friend from the mirror and introduce him to my new friend in that glass over there.”

Rhianna leaned back, noticing that the decanter on her desk was spotless, a bulbous reflection of Maisie easily seen in its face.  The woman chortled and shook her head, unable to ignore the cute, silly antics of the little pup.

“I feel like this needs some kind of power,” Rhianna suggested.  “Doesn’t this thing look like it’s meant to heat up?  But there’s no place to turn anything on as far as I can tell.”

As another group of clouds moved out of the way of the moon, a brighter ray of light shone into the window beside her.  She could see the brass tubing that made its way up into the ceiling, almost making the device before her seem like a strange oven.

“It’s like a chimney…” she muttered.

“At least you have some idea of what you’re looking at,” Michael said then.  “Like, what are these things?  Whoever was working on these is either bad at what they do, or they like working in the abstract, and I’m just looking at some very strange art projects.”

Rhianna turned to her husband and narrowed her eyes, trying to see the objects around him.  But the only item illuminated was the strange ring that was on the floor.

“I mean, they’re not all strange and confusing,” she said.  “What about that treadmill on the floor?”

Michael tilted his head in confusion.  “Treadmill?”

“Yeah,” Rhianna said, pointing toward the ring.  “That thing is basically just like a hamster wheel that fell on its side, isn’t it?”

Her husband took a step to his side, observing the ring a little more closely.  “How could you tell that by looking at it once, and from all the way over there?” he asked.

She shrugged, flashing a knowing grin.  “Maybe I’m just working in the abstract.”

While Rhianna worked at trying to understand the items on her desk a little better, Michael plucked the ring off the ground, and set it upright.  Sure enough, the device was a set of two rings that worked conceptually just like a treadmill would.  The outer ring remained stationary, and kept the device secure and in place, while the inner ring rotated.  Michael ran his hand around it a few times, noticing the quiet whirr it made as the treadmill spun.

“Hey, what just happened?” Rhianna asked.

Michael stopped, and looked across the room to his wife’s desk.  “Is everything alright?”

“Whatever I did, this thing was working for a moment.  I saw some bubbles forming in the water here, and a little puff of steam came out of this little vent here.”

“I thought you said you needed power?” Michael asked.

“I must have turned something on only to turn it off a moment or two later,” Rhianna suggested.  “I’ll just try and do whatever I was doing again.”

Michael nodded, and set to work on his own item once more.  He spun the wheel around once again, the little buzzing sound it made drawing forth curiosity from the dogs, who left their station.

“What do you two think?” he asked Zelda and Maisie?  Do either of you want to go for a spin?”

Zelda hunched down low, trying to appear as pitiful as possible in an effort not to be placed in the unfamiliar situation.  Maisie, on the other hand, simply walked away, not willing to be used in Michael’s odd experiments.

“Come on,” he teased while he spun the inner ring a few more times.  “We all have a lot of food to work off after that last room.”

“There are no calories at Christmas,” Rhianna reminded him, though she kept her focus on the cannisters before her.  She gasped as she saw more bubbles then, and another puff of steam.  “Wait!  There it is again!”  Just as before though, she noticed as it stopped when she looked upon it.  “What is going on?”

She looked toward her husband, exasperated.

Michael, though, arched an eyebrow.  “You’re not the only one who notices things!”  He began spinning the inner ring again, as steadily as he could, and sure enough, even from where he stood, he could hear the buzz coming from the cannisters on her side of the room.  “This treadmill must power your machine,” Michael said.  “There’s a wire that goes under the floor, but I didn’t think it would have gone all the way over to there.”

“Well keep it up,” Rhianna said.  “I think we’re on the right track here.”  For the first time, she could see that the water-filled cannisters bubbled with heat, and she watched the herbs that sat inside them dance back and forth.

“This is kind of tiring,” her husband said as he kept spinning the treadmill.  “I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing it.”

Rhianna looked at the device a little more thoroughly, for as the heat ran through it, she watched as the very water inside turned brighter.  More puffs of steam flew out from the vent in the front of the machine, but she wondered instead if the remnants of the liquid needed to push up through the longer chimney stack that rose into the ceiling.

She noticed, then, in the light, that there were some things on her side of the room that she hadn’t quite made sense of either.  The device sat upon a spinning dais, and when she turned the machinery about, she realized that it had been facing the wall for some reason before.  Rhianna was certain, then, that it was facing the correct direction then, for two large round handles sat near the face of it, on either side of a gauge that had a red needle but no clear numeration.  Still, she figured that the needle had to move toward the right side of the gauge, and whatever Michael was doing wasn’t accomplishing enough, the needle only flicking back and forth for a split second.

“Something’s not right,” she said.  “I think we have to vent the heat from the cannisters into the main flue.  But these handles here might be too difficult for me to turn.”

Michael stopped what he was doing then and approached her table.  Zelda and Maisie had given up on their desk, finding herbs mostly boring when they couldn’t be eaten.

“Okay, what am I looking at?” Michael asked.

“Do you think you can open these up?” Rhianna wondered.  “I feel like it’ll be just like a jar of pickles.  You’ll have an easier time with it.”

Michael shrugged, understanding the logic in it.  As he worked on opening the handle on the right side, his wife continued to look about the desk, the glowing cannisters lending enough light to see far enough beyond the wooden surface.  She hummed to herself as she walked behind Michael studying one end of the table and then the other.

“There’s some weird material here, too,” she insisted.  “It almost looks like fireplace bellows, just without the handles.  And they’re built right into the floor.”

Michael ceased turning the handle, and looked beside the desk, spotting what she had.  But once he let go of the wheel, it began rotating backward the way it had been set.  Michael reached for it, but it was already moving too fast, and he couldn’t fight against the inertia.

“Crud,” Michael said.  “We’re not going to be able to do what you want to do and move the treadmill at the same time.  These wheels are going to need both of us to do our part.”

Rhianna nodded.  “I think all of us are going to need to work together here in order to make this machine do what it’s supposed to.  You and I are going to have work on the wheels, but the animals can push down on these things.  Watch.”

The woman stepped on the upright, extended bellows on the right side of the desk then, flattening it.  Sure enough, on the opposite side, the other set of bellows extended then.  Still, it wasn’t clear what was happening, as Michael couldn’t see anything change on the gauge in front of him.

“Alright, my dad was a boiler operator,” Michael said.  “I can figure this out.  So, it needs power from the treadmill over there.  But power is just heating things up, and we need to stoke the heat by using the bellows.  But even if we do that, the heat doesn’t go anywhere unless we open access from the cannisters into the central unit.  That’s why you and I need to work on the wheel handles.”

“I might need you to help start the wheel off for me,” Rhianna said.  “That first twist is going to be a problem for me I think.”

“I can help you with that,” Michael assured.  “But we still need to figure out how we’re going to work the bellows and the treadmill at the same time.”

“Doggies,” his wife beckoned.  “We’re going to need you both to listen very carefully.  This is going to be a fun game for you.  Maisie, you’re going to go on this side, and you’re going to step up and push down on this.”  Rhianna demonstrated what it would look like, and the little dog’s eyes went wide with anticipation.

“And Zelda,” she went on, “you’re going to be working on this side of the table.  See how it’s up on this side now?”  The pup didn’t quite understand the idea of one side having anything to do with the other side, but she, too, grew excited when she saw Rhianna push the bellows down into the floor.  “Can you do that?” Rhianna asked.

Zelda nodded enthusiastically.

Over on the other side of the desk, the bellows had already extended again, and Maisie looked from them to Michael and back again.

“Go ahead,” the man said.  “You’re allowed to jump on them.”

The little black and white dog didn’t waste any time once she had permission, and she pushed down on the extended accordion shape, pushing it down to the floor.

Zelda gasped when she saw the one on her side stretching up once more.

“Once it expands all the way, you can push your side down again,” Rhianna said.

When the two dogs found their rhythm, playing with the bellows like a game, Michael looked to Rhianna and bobbed his head in appreciation.  “I have to say, I wasn’t expecting that to go so well.  But we still have a problem.  How do we get the treadmill going from all the way over here?”

Rhianna grinned, and looked at the finicky feline, who still sat beneath the desk across from them, faintly illuminated every time the lumibugs’ thoraxes flickered.

“To keep the treadmill going, we need someone who is persistent.  We need someone who is balanced, and poised, and—”

“Not interested,” Peanut said then.  She licked her paw and dragged it across her brow then, ignorant of the last part of the puzzle that the DeAngelo family was faced with.

“What?” Rhianna asked, surprised at the idea that Peanut wouldn’t want to help after everything they had gone through that night.  “Why not?”

“Because now I have all the power,” she said.  “You have to listen to me now, and I have a few demands that we’ll need to agree on.”

“Peanut,” Rhianna protested.

“First, every morning, I shall have one barrel of fish delivered to the room of my choosing.”

“Where are we going to find a barrel in 2021?” Rhianna asked as she looked toward her husband.

“Second, it shall be written officially in the DeAngelo family bylaws that whenever Maisie lays under a blanket, I may step on her at my leisure.”

“Pretty sure you do that anyway,” Michael said.

“Yes, but it will now be official!” Peanut said.  She cleared her throat, and sat up straight, looking a bit more regal as she made her declarations.  “Finally, the window shall be mine again, henceforth called Peanut’s domain, banned and stricken of the foul presence and fouler odor of those two.”  She sneered a bit upon the completion of her demands.

“Hey!” Maisie said, pausing her game with Zelda as the words reached her.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Zelda said, bowing her head, a little hurt by the words.

Peanut looked at everyone and hunched down a little lower to the ground, realizing that perhaps she had gone a little too far.

“Look,” Michael said.  “We can’t keep the pups out of the window.  That’s the only way we’re seeing the world this year.  But maybe what we can do is give you a nice, big bag of…”  His words trailed off, as he recalled Peanut’s reaction when they’d first entered the room and began exploring around a bit.  “I think catnip would work wonders in this case,” Michael proceeded to say.  “Or in this case, catmint.”

Rhianna leaned over to Michael and spoke out of the corner of her mouth.  “But we already got Peanut catnip as one of her Christmas presents,” she quietly explained.

“But she doesn’t know that,” Michael replied out of the opposite corner of his mouth.

He approached the table that Maisie and Zelda had first been looking at, ignoring many of the herbs there, as well as the mortar and pestle.  He was mostly concerned with the blue and purple plant that hung on a taut string above the table.  There were a few other herbs that were set up that way, but he was less concerned with those ones.  The string was long, with an excess amount hanging far beyond where the knots were tied, and Michael was certain that he’d have enough slack to enact his plan.

“What are you up to?” Rhianna asked her husband.

“Giving Peanut some incentive to help.  Come over here and grab one of the ends of this string.”

Rhianna was happy to help, and she did as she was instructed.  The couple then walked the string of hanging plants to the opposite side of the room.

“Alright,” Michael said.  “Now if we tie your side of the string to the front leg of that desk, and we put it through here…”  Michael continued his thought process then, ensuring that the string of herbs passed through the rings of the treadmill.  He tied the other end of the string to the back leg of the desk where the strange devices had been found, and once the catmint hung in the air, he adjusted the treadmill so that the hanging herbs were nearly touching the back of it.

“Now we’re just missing one piece of the puzzle,” Michael said, looking at Peanut, who had watched with curiosity as the two humans set up their incentivized machine.

“Come here, kitty,” Rhianna said, scooping the cat into her arms.

“What?” Peanut said, trying to leap away to no avail.  “What is this?  Unhand me!”

Rhianna was already setting her down again, though that time it was closer to the treadmill.  Peanut sprang off the woman’s chest before she could be lowered to the floor, and she came to a stop just to the side of the two rings.

The cat harrumphed to herself and looked at the two humans alternately.  “There will be no further negotiating until…until…”  She paused, and then turned about, sniffing at the plants that Michael and Rhianna had strung up.  “Until after I figure out what this delectable smell is.”

Michael quietly stepped around to the other side of the treadmill ring, and gently urged Peanut into the treadmill.  The cat was so entranced by the smell that she wasn’t even aware that she had been shepherded into place.  Before long, she put one paw in front of the other, trying to draw closer to the enchanting scent just inches away from her.  Likewise, she wasn’t cognizant of the wheel drawing her back.  She had found the perfect placement to keep up with the pleasant aroma, and she couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to anyone else.

Rhianna waved Michael over as she tiptoed back to the other table.  Her husband moved in step with her, and together, they rejoined the two dogs over on that side, who had shirked their duties in their people’s absence.

“Look,” Rhianna said, pointing toward the puffs of steam that emerged from the vent at the top of the device—though it was placed along the back side after she had rotated it.  “It’s working.  The power is on and it’s heating up the insides.”

“Alright you two,” Michael said when he arrived there, looking at the two dogs.  “Get right back into it okay?  Zelda, push down on your side, and Maisie, when it comes all the way to the top, that’s your cue to push down on the bellows.”

“Got it,” Maisie said, hunching down, and poised to jump up on the accordion-like expanded item.

“And the rest is up to us,” Michael said, grabbing his wheel handle.  “Let’s do it.”

Rhianna struggled to get her side started, but as Michael turned his, hers became easier to manipulate.  Whether it was due to inspiration or had something to do with the way the machine reacted to whatever he had opened within, she managed to turn it all the way.

They could hear the flow of water and watched as the liquid in the capsules began to lower.  The gauge rotated until it nearly passed the other side of the dial meter, and Michael worried that he was going to have to let the animals know that would need to work a little less hard.

But all at once, the DeAngelo family realized what their hard work and critical thinking had achieved.  A small grate was situated in the ceiling, so nondescript that none of them had noticed it without the light shining directly upon it.  But when the glowing water poured down from it, they knew at once it was there.

The water that they had forced up through the pipe cast down, all of it seeming to land upon the pyramid that shielded the flowerpot.

“Keep at it,” Michael said.  “I don’t know what it’s doing, but something is happening.”

Sure enough, the pyramid seemed to pulse, and—Rhianna was nearly certain—it started to grow.  She blinked her eyes, trying to make sense of it, but as exhausted as she was, she felt she couldn’t trust what she was seeing.

Zelda helped her to clear her mind though.  “You could use whatever this stuff is on our houseplants at home,” the dog suggested.  “Look, it’s even making the little pot grow bigger.”

Sure enough, what Zelda claimed to see what right.  Both the pyramid and the pot were growing as more of the glowing, iridescent liquid rained down from above.

As the pyramid soaked up more of that water, it changed to a darker color, and the pulsing grew more pronounced.  A few moments at a time then, the family could see that it was not some meager plant that was growing, but a bushy evergreen tree.  It was already nearly the size of the one that had been placed within the library downstairs.  And as the enchanted water fell from the grate above, it continued to expand.

The gauge whistled for a moment, and Michael turned to regard the machine.  He could see that all the water had drained out of the capsules, and he let his wheel shut, prompting Rhianna to let go of hers as well.  They both stopped the pups on their closer side of the desk, for it wouldn’t do to have the bellows pumping if there was no water left to move.

Still, as they all stopped, and moved away from the growing tree, they knew that the water still traveled through the pipes up above.  Though the sound of the tree’s expansion was audible and gripping, they could also hear the flow of liquid up above.

Michael hurried around the tree to the other side of the room, tearing the string of catmint away from the two desks, and plucking Peanut off the treadmill.  As inebriated by the herbs as she was, the cat didn’t realize her experience had been halted, even as Michael squeezed her against his chest.

“I don’t want you to get squished,” he insisted.

“But like…aren’t we all a little squished?” she queried.

Under normal circumstances, Michael would have chuckled at the strange statement, but even stranger things were happening.  As the crown of the tree tapped against the ceiling, Rhianna gasped.  She ushered the dogs back to the entrance to the room, with the trio of them stopping just before they reached the stairs.  Michael dared to stand a little bit closer, but he took a step back here and there as the tree kept expanding.

“Look at all the stars,” Peanut said, and for a moment, Michael thought that the tree had shorn right through the ceiling.  She wasn’t looking at a twilight canopy, but the large bottle of lumibugs that flew about on the far table.

Finally, it seemed, the water from the device stopped flowing, and the tree, in turn, stopped growing.  The family breathed a sigh of relief, but they realized that they weren’t certain what had been accomplished.  There was still no way out, and as huge as the tree was, it didn’t seem to alter much except the amount of room that was in the latest area.

“What are we doing now?” Rhianna asked.  “That can’t be it, right?  Is there anything on the tree that you can see?”

Michael shook his head, but he found that he, too, was drawn to the sight of the jarred lumibugs.  Rhianna tiptoed around the tree to find her way to his side, and she followed his gaze there, where she noticed that all the lumibugs seemed to be congregating toward the top of the large bottle that they were held within.

“Maybe they know something we don’t,” Michael suggested.  He set Peanut on the ground, letting her drop to her side and enjoy the feel of the carpet beneath her.  “Let’s let them out and find out where they go.”

Rhianna hesitated for a moment.  “Under normal circumstances, I would say ‘absolutely not’ to something like that.  But lumibugs are kind of cute, so I’ll make an exception.”

“Alright, let’s go liberate some multicolored lightning bugs,” Michael said.  When he reached about halfway around the tree, he looked back to see that his wife was still near the stairs.  “What are you doing over there?”

Rhianna folded her arms across her chest.  “I said release them.  I didn’t say I wanted to be anywhere near them when you did.”

Michael chortled, but he understood her concerns.  With the lumibugs assembling near the neck of the container, he knew their exodus would be swift.

As he neared the table that they sat upon, he noticed that they blinked faster and for longer, almost looking as though they were trying to be persistent in lending their many-hued glow.  None seemed frightened by his proximity either, even when he reached for the large bottle they sat within.

Breathing out a little sigh, Michael grabbed the container, and placed it beneath his arm, pointing it toward the side of the room away from Rhianna and their animals.  Grasping the cork that kept the lumibugs trapped inside the bottle, he tugged on both sides.  A satisfying pop sounded, and the insects took to the air—not in a furious escape, but in an almost serene show, as though they were like little snowflakes that were returning to the sky.

Even so, it didn’t take long for them to find what had excited them so.  One by one, the lumibugs landed on branches of the tall tree.  The liquid that had poured from the ceiling had them as excited as the tree, and for a moment Michael felt a sympathetic panic for his wife, wondering if the bugs, too, would grow to an immense size.

After a few moments had passed, and they remained tiny in stature, he felt a small wave of relief wash over him.  He did notice that the tree or the residual liquid had at least one effect on them.  Their lights diminished far less then, as though the scent of the mixture left them with a feeling of peace and contentment.

When Michael returned to his wife, he spotted the smile on her face.

“They look like Christmas lights,” Rhianna said.

From that vantage, a bit farther from the tree, she was right.  The scores of liberated insects left the huge tree looking a bit brighter, and it seemed that might have been what they were intended for.

Still, it didn’t seem to answer any questions, or unlock any doors.

The family heard a strange creaking above them then, and they looked to the ceiling, wondering what it could be.

All at once, the tree burst skyward again, empowered perhaps by the last remnants of liquid that dripped from the ceiling, or by some hidden magic that the lumibugs possessed.  Rhianna bent low and scooped the distracted kitty from the floor, while Michael ushered the doggies away to the safety.  The lot of them leapt onto the steps, hurrying to the landing at the halfway point below.

Above, the entire roof ripped off the building, revealing the starlit sky high above.  The DeAngelo family listened as the roof fell somewhere beside the house, a loud report sounding outside.

“What the heck is going on?” Rhianna cried.  “We were supposed to do all that, right?”

“What else were we going to do?” Michael replied, raising his voice as he contended with the strange echo of the scattering debris outside.  “Hey, we wanted a way out, now it looks like we have one.”

“What are we supposed to do—climb?”

“Sometimes I have troubles getting on the couch,” Maisie said.

“Alright, look, why don’t you stay here with the animals, and I’ll go check to make sure it’s okay,” Michael said.

“No,” Rhianna said, shaking her head.  “If we go, we go together.”

Her husband looked up toward the tree, wondering if there was even a way around it then.  “Fine.  But stay behind me just in case anything is wrong.”

“That was going to happen whether or not you warned us,” Rhianna said.

Michael snickered to himself, even though he felt a bit apprehensive about ascending the steps once more.  Still, he convinced himself to continue forth, and before long, he found himself before the large tree again.

In the time that they had reconvened on the steps, snow had begun to fall into the room, dusting the top of the tree’s branches in white.  Some of the lumibugs had flown away, eager for the chance to explore even further from their earlier trappings.  Many of them remained, however, leaving the tree looking even more festive.

As Michael circled around the tree again, keeping to the side of the room that he and Peanut had set to work within, he noticed a strange rhythmic rumble outside that seemed to shake the house every few moments.  He tried to follow it whenever he heard it return, and it seemed to come from the side of the room opposite the stairs.

When Michael looked in that direction though, he paused, and he arched an eyebrow.  With Rhianna and the animals close behind, then, he held out his arm to stop them from overtaking him.  He pointed toward the back of the room and made sure that Rhianna saw what he did.

“Those steps weren’t there before, right?” he asked.

Rhianna narrowed her eyes, trying to see the faraway area of the room.  “Steps that would have led to nowhere while the roof was still on this building?” she asked.  “No, I don’t think they were there before.”

Michael clicked his tongue while he considered his wife’s snarky tone.  “You just lost one of your presents this year, because you were mean,” he teased.  He also walked ahead, braving the open air behind the tree.  The man marched on, taking his first strides up the new set of steps.

When he arrived at the top, he froze.

His wife, the cat still curled up in a ball upon her arms, waited for some sort of sign for her to follow, but he didn’t seem to be offering up any indication that she should.

“Michael?” she called out.

He finally turned about, looking at her and placing a finger to his lips.  He paused to consider whether he should urge her onward, but he felt comfortable with the decision a few moments later and waved her toward him.

The dogs fell in line behind her, carefully circling around the giant tree.  They all noticed the caution that Michael exuded, but he continued to wave them on regardless.

“You’ll have to be very quiet,” he warned then.  “I don’t know how she managed to sleep through the roof falling off the house, but then, here we are.”

Who is she? Rhianna wondered, though she kept silent as Michael had recommended.  Zelda and Maisie hunched low to the ground and waited at the bottom of the steps as Rhianna ascended.

She, too, stopped in her tracks when she saw what was before her.

The steps led to a rocky crag, though the path before the DeAngelo family seemed to be flat and level.  The further back the route before them went though, the rockier and more uneven the sharp stones seemed to rise.

None of that concerned Michael and Rhianna then, however.  Not so far away, its snores shaking the crag and the house it nearly connected to, was a towering black dragon.

“Is that…?” Rhianna whispered.

Michael nodded.  “I’m pretty sure it is.  We haven’t seen her in over five years though.  And yet, she doesn’t look any worse for wear.”

Hearing them talk about someone they were familiar with, Zelda hopped up the few steps then, and peered ahead.  She didn’t realize at first what Michael and Rhianna were looking at.  But when she saw the dragon shift a bit, she took a few steps closer and sniffed at the air.  Peanut, sleeping off the effects of the catmint then, purred in satisfaction as she rested in Rhianna’s arms.  But the woman tousled her belly fluff a little bit, rousing her from her slumber.

Peanut blinked away her stupor and stretched while she was in her arm hammock.  But when she came to, she looked at Rhianna, who smiled and pointed down the path.

“Look who we have over there,” Rhianna said.

The cat turned her head to the side and spotted the dragon in the distance.  She sprang out of Rhianna’s grasp, and landed on the stony path, though she took a few steps forward and sat beside Zelda then.

Down below, the last member of the DeAngelo family remained apprehensive.  She could feel the rumbling a little clearer, then.  Though Maisie wasn’t one to shy away from things that were unfamiliar or even typically frightening, there was something about that noise that left her a bit uneasy.

Still, she crept up the steps, looking up at Michael and Rhianna, who had their arms wrapped around the other’s waist or shoulder.  For once, Zelda and Peanut also sat close by one another, not irked by the other’s presence, it seemed.

Maisie couldn’t help but feel as though there was something odd happening, and she was sure that she would get to the bottom of it.  She strode forward, pushing between the other dog and the cat, and she sat down at the forefront of the family—completely oblivious to the large black dragon on the other side of the path, whose dark scales blended somewhat into the uneven stones and the starlit sky.

The dragon took a deep breath then, and her chest rose as she filled her lungs with air.

Her eyes growing wide, Maisie finally understood what had caught the rest of her family’s attention.

“What the heck is that?” she cried.  The little dog immediately sprang back up and ran behind Zelda and Peanut, hiding behind her older siblings.

A moment passed that seemed long indeed.  Yet when all seemed quiet—the dragon’s slumbering breaths slowing—the recent arrivals to the stone path knew that they had roused the frightening beast.  Maisie shivered and ducked her head, hoping that she might have the means to turn invisible if the monster decided to gobble her up.

The dragon uncurled her body, digging her front claws into the ground while she stretched her chest and neck toward the sky.  She rolled the end of her neck one way and then the other, before she gave a little shake and steadied her gaze, looking toward the house.

“It is you,” she bellowed, her voice rich and deep.  “Just as he said it would be.”

“We meet again,” Michael said, smiling as he addressed the massive black dragon.

“I can’t believe it’s been half a decade already,” Rhianna said, stepping forward.

Bringing its wings up and back, the dragon settled into a more comfortable position a little closer toward the path.  “It was a blink of an eye, and the gaze of eternity,” she said.  “But I suppose that’s the sign of a life most enjoyed.”

Michael and Rhianna grabbed each other a little closer, then, and they looked at the rest of the family they had made over the years.

“And you little ones,” the dragon went on.  “You seem to be well and content also.”

Zelda sat a little taller, and bobbed her head at the assessment, a little grin upon her face.  Peanut shrugged and tilted to the side, believing it to be a fair judgment.

“Ah, but it seems we’ve added a member to the family,” the dragon said, peering between the cat and dog that she was familiar with.  “And who might you be?”

The younger dog still cowered a little bit behind her siblings, but she ventured a glance up to the mighty dragon.

“I’m…I’m Maisie,” she squeaked.

“A wonderful name for a splendid addition to the DeAngelo household.  I’m sure that if you’re on this journey with the rest of these travelers, you’re in good hands, and well looked after.”

Michael stepped forward and fell to a knee beside Maisie, scratching her side.  “We found each other, just like the rest of us.”

“It’s good to see you,” Rhianna said.  “But how have you come to be here?”

The dragon smiled, giving her tremendous wings a flap and sending a loud sound through the air.  “Our mutual friend went through a lot of work to find where you were, and to ensure you would be able to free yourself from the grasp of the prison behind you.  But it took more work than he was able to muster in one day and…”  The dragon stepped forward, shaking the rocky bridge leading to the family.  “I think it might just be easier if he explained it to you.”

“Santa?” Zelda asked, wagging her tail in excitement.  “Is he here?”

The dragon shook her head.  “No.  But I can bring you to him.”

Rhianna smiled and began forward.  “It’s been a strange night, but it’s been nice to see a familiar face.”

“My friends,” the dragon said, “it has been a strange year.  I’m glad to see you doing so well after all the difficulties that it brings, however.”

While Peanut and Zelda followed in Rhianna’s footsteps, Maisie still hesitated.  Michael felt some small shivers emanating from her, and he scooped her up, holding her against his chest.

“It’s alright puppy,” he said.  “She’s just our marriage dragon.  She may look a little scary at first, but she’s truly magical and majestic, and she’s never let us down.”

Maisie nuzzled against Michael’s neck, still unsure about the approach toward the mighty creature.  But Michael noticed that her shivers had subsided, and he rubbed her back for further encouragement.

Behind the dragon, a small rising outcropping of rocks served to help the DeAngelo family upon her back.  Peanut made the leap on her own, but Zelda needed a little help, Rhianna scooping her up and taking a long stride to step upon the creature’s dark scales.  When she had cleared the gap, she set the pup down, and Zelda scampered into place not far from where Peanut had settled.

Michael was not far behind then, and he joined the family upon the dragon’s back a moment later, setting Maisie down in front of him.  She peered up, and breathed out a sigh, happy to be on the dragon’s back instead of in her gaze, feeling as though she’d make a quick snack.

“Hold tight, everyone,” the marriage dragon warned.  “Let’s get you out of here.”

Though the DeAngelo family was ready for her wings to flap and lift them into the air, they were still surprised by the forceful gust of wind she produced.  Rhianna leaned forward, holding onto Zelda and Peanut, who had already dug their claws into the closest dragon scales beneath them.

As they rose higher into the air, Michael and Rhianna looked down at what had been their strange prison for the night.  From their vantage, they could see that it was a strange building indeed, surrounded by only a few other buildings that helped to make a convincing illusion that it had been their house.  But even those other constructions were only quickly put together, and not fully realized—more like set pieces than real structures.

Rhianna leaned back and arched her eyebrow.  “I wonder who set all this up to trap us here,” she said.

“Well it wasn’t Santa,” Michael said, reminding her of what the dragon had said.  “If he was looking for us, that means someone else got to us first this year.”

“It’s about to get a bit bumpier,” the dragon warned as she began flying forward.

The world around the strange house below seemed naught but a snowy wasteland, with nothing else except strange dark mountains dotting the landscape.  The DeAngelo family felt the powerful wind that blew through the area, especially on the downbeat of the dragon’s wings.

She let a powerful roar tear past her mouth, and Maisie’s shivering resumed.

But far ahead of her, a new portal opened in the sky, and the others understood that they were going to leave that land behind.

“We’ll be there soon, my friends,” the dragon said.  “Hold each other close and prepare yourselves.  You’ll see Santa before you know it!”

Michael reached forward, holding Maisie around her chest while he grabbed hold of Rhianna’s shoulder with his other hand.  She turned her head and kissed his hand before she reached out and touched Peanut and Zelda, creating a chain between the family members.

The dragon flew higher and higher, until she was far above the portal she had summoned, though still several hundred feet back.  Without further warning, she tucked back her wings, almost brushing them up against the family she held on her back.  She dove forward, racing toward the portal, which already looked as though it was beginning to close.

As fiercely as the family held on, they felt a weightlessness began taking hold.  Peanut and Zelda fell back a step, and Rhianna bent lower, ensuring they wouldn’t go anywhere.  Michael scooched forward, making sure that the rest of them were stable, while Maisie buried her face against the large black scales beneath her.

“Here we go!” the dragon bellowed.

They passed into the eye of the portal then, leaving their strange Christmas prison behind.

*          *          *

The door to the workshop opened, letting a gust of cold wind inside, along with a dusting of snow that cast about the floor.

“Ah, Revan,” the fellow in the bright red jacket said as he whittled away at a design at his desk.  “Is the sleigh ready to go?”

“There are still some more modifications I have to make, Santa,” the elf said.  “But I came here to give you better news than that.”

When he turned about, the man saw that five new guests had arrived.

“My friends!” he shouted out, lifting his hands in cheer.  “I knew that you would escape that blasted house before long.”

“We’re sorry if we missed any of the festivities,” Rhianna said.  “Then again, we weren’t expecting to be sucked into a dummy portal to a world that looked like our own.”

“Nor should you be punished for that,” Santa said, waving the DeAngelo family over toward his desk.  “I have a gift for you that I was hoping to give you a little bit earlier in the day, but it seems we’ve lost a bit of time.  Take hold of these, but don’t open them until we reach our destination.”  He handed two boxes and a bag to Michael, who grabbed them, but already wore a confused look upon his face.

“Destination?” he asked.  “But Santa, we just arrived here.”

“And I’m happy that you did, but we’re already running late.  And unfortunately, I spent a good deal of the last week trying to help you where I could to make sure you wouldn’t spend all the way through next Christmas in the prison house.”

“So that was you,” Michael replied.  “We thought that was you leaving us clues.  But why didn’t you just spring us out when you were setting things out for us to discover?”

“Come along,” the spirit of Christmas said.  “We can certainly talk about it on the way.”

Together, the six of them left the workshop, and Santa waved his hands before the doorway ahead of closing the way behind them.  The DeAngelo family watched as the lights dimmed in the building, and by the time they turned, Revan, the elf, had brought Santa’s sleigh out into the snow, a team of reindeer leading the way.

“Svetlana!” Zelda cried, rushing up to meet her reindeer friend.

Santa let a loud belly laugh escape his lips as he slapped his chest.  “She’s my lead reindeer this year,” he said.  “I kept hearing you sing her praises, Zelda, and I knew she needed a chance to shine.”

Revan hopped away from the driver’s seat then, hooking the reins upon the pommel at the front of the sleigh.

“It’s all primed and ready for you Santa,” she assured.  “Leoden made the changes to the navigation system as you requested, and you should be able to make it across the world even faster this year.”

“Wonderful,” he replied.  “And the reindeer are ready to take flight?”

“It’s been difficult to keep them to the ground,” Revan said with a smile.  She turned to the family members then and offered up a little bow.  “I’m sorry we didn’t get to spend more time together this year, but I’m sure next year will be better.  And it was nice to meet you, Maisie!”

The little dog’s tail wagged as she spun about in excitement.

“Do we get to come here every year?” she asked Rhianna.

“Nothing could keep us away,” the woman replied with a smile.

“Alright, in we go,” Santa said.  He shuffled into the driver’s seat of the sleigh while he waited for the others to move into the rear seat.  Peanut and Maisie were quick to join Michael and Rhianna there, but Zelda still chatted with the reindeer at the front of the team.

“Come on Zelda!” Michael called out.

“Okay,” they heard the little dog say.  “Bye!”  At once, she came bounding over to the rest of her family, and she joined them there in the sleigh.  The animals sat between the two humans in the back seat, who leaned over and shared a Christmas kiss.

“Up we go!” Santa cried, giving a light snap of the reins.

At once, Svetlana led the way, marching forward for a few steps and urging the other reindeer on.  Together, they sprinted ahead in step, and once they’d picked up enough speed, they burst into the air, lifting the sleigh along with them.

“So, you wanted to know why I wasn’t there with you?” Santa asked as they reached a steady pace.  “Would that I could have,” he said.  “But I had been there before you.  Once I realized that you weren’t joining us for some reason this year, I went on a search to find you.  I reached out to all our mutual friends to find you, but it was your family’s guardian dragon who finally helped me locate you.

“It seems that faux house was set up for you for months, at least by my estimations,” he went on.  “Over the years, you’ve been dependable allies for me and indeed for all of Christmas, and it seems that’s been learned by those who would wish to cause trouble for us instead.  But I couldn’t have just left you there, so I had to hatch my own plan, but I needed plenty of time to do it.  With your dragon’s help, I made my way to the house, but I went there days ago, using some of my Christmas magic.  I couldn’t adjust my plans this close to the big day, so I needed to give myself more time to help you.  That’s why you found the tome, and why I left some extra clues around to give you a leg up.”

“You couldn’t be there in person, so you were there in spirit,” Peanut said, stepping up to lean on the back of Santa’s seat.

“That’s right, little one,” he explained.  “As much as I would have preferred to spend most of this day with all of you.”

“But who would have wanted to trap us?” Rhianna wondered.  “I’m sure there could have been others who wanted to ruin Christmas who could have done so with much more nefarious means.”

“Well, I don’t think our impish adversary was prepared for anything besides mischief this year.  After all, none of what you experienced was dangerous, and even when I had made my way through the puzzles he’d set up for you, I thought it was all to benefit you and your sense of imagination and whimsy anyway.”

“Santa, do you know who it was who captured us?” Michael asked.

He paused for a moment as he turned toward the brightened moon.  “I have my suspicions.  You read the book I’d given you all those years back, yes?”

“I did,” Rhianna said.  “Are you saying it’s…?”

“I’m almost certain it’s my brother,” Santa said.  “After all these years, he’s managed to find me, but he’s still playing his games.  And I imagine he’s a bit hurt that it turned out I was alive when he’d thought me dead for centuries upon centuries.”

“Your brother?” Michael said, surprised and excited by the idea of one of Santa’s siblings introducing himself.

“In any case, he’s interrupting some of my most trusted associates,” Santa said, offering a wink as he turned about in his seat to look at the DeAngelo family.  “We’ll have to be ready for him next year.

“In the meantime,” he went on, “let’s talk about this year for a moment, shall we?  As I understand it, you spent a considerable amount of time in your own home before you were whisked away to the fake one, correct?”

“Yeah,” Rhianna said, bowing her head.  “Along with nearly everyone else.”

Santa nodded.  “Word of this year’s troubles reached me long ago, and I knew that you could use a moment of reprieve.  After my tasks this year, I wanted to bring you someplace special.  Well,” he said with a laugh, “since you were wrapped up in my brother’s traps, I managed to have some of my other friends help me about the north pole.  But it would seem a waste not to give you the gift I’d intended.  What do you say?  Are you ready to take one last journey this Christmas?”

“Yeah!” Zelda said, jumping for joy in the back of the sleigh.

“Let’s go!” Maisie shouted.

With a smile upon his face, Santa turned back to face the front of his sleigh.  He reached forward, flicking a switch on the dashboard of their vehicle.

“That’s new, isn’t it?” Michael asked.  “What does that dooooooooooo!”

Before he could finish speaking, a roar from behind them explained the answer to the man’s question as the new navigation system on the sleigh flickered to life.  In the blink of an eye, the sleigh and the reindeer zipped forward across the sky, leaving the north pole behind them.

Far below where they had been flying, a dragon soared above the frozen plains, swooping down on tremendous, icy worms that burst from the snow.

*          *          *

The warm sands were a pleasant change of pace, and the gentle lapping of the waves was almost enchanting.  Zelda and Maisie ran toward the receding waters and sprinted back away from them when they came rushing back onto the shore.

Michael and Rhianna, sitting a little further upon the golden sands, spent their time crafting an impressive sandcastle that watched out over the rest of the beach.  It felt strange to be in such a balmy place in the middle of December, and even stranger to be there in bathing suits—the outfits that Santa had gifted to them that year.  But just as Father Christmas had said, it had been a stressful year indeed, and they weren’t going to miss a chance to finally sit back and relax for a change.

Peanut sat further ahead up the beach, every now and then taking a step off the blanket they had set out, and every time thinking better of it before curling up in a ball and laying in the pleasant rays of sunlight that cast down from the beautiful sky above.

“Now don’t go treating this beach like your own personal litter box,” Michael teased.

The cat was already snoring though, glad to be in a quiet place—with a bucket of fish at her side.

All the family paused what they were doing then, for they heard a jolly cry high above them.  With smiles upon their face, they looked upon the sleigh, the reindeer and the man—and the banner that flew behind them.

“Merry Christmas to you,” Michael read.

“And a very happy and healthy New Year,” Rhianna finished.

The husband and wife leaned toward each other once again, and gave each other another Christmas kiss.

Happy Holidays everyone!

If you enjoyed this story, check out the DeAngelo Christmas Archive.

The post Christmas Escape appeared first on Tellest.

A blustery cold blew through the town, convincing its residents to keep inside to stay warm.  In one of the snow-covered houses along the corner of one of the streets, what had been a quiet winter night in years past was filled with raucous growls and grumbles.

When Zelda began running in circles, it was in excitement and anticipation.  It didn’t take long for Maisie, the little black-and-white dog, and newest member of the DeAngelo family, to surmise that those loops around the living room was an invitation to play.  Back and forth they nipped at each other, spinning about the area, completely unfazed by the gazes that landed on them.

Rhianna and Michael, sitting on the couch, watched in silence as Zelda sent playful snarls toward her younger sister.  They alternated glances at each other as well, and at the clock, waiting for the coming hour.

The cat, sitting atop the back of the couch, had no means of telling time, and tested the timing every few moments with a curious meow.  Michael reached up and back, scratching Peanut on the back of her head.

During a break in the dogs’ chase, Rhianna began laughing at the sight of the pups.  Zelda still grumbled, but Maisie’s face was almost entirely engulfed in her older sister’s mouth.

Though it was faint, the wind seemed to grow in force from the back of the house.  Nobody seemed to notice that sound, however, as another shift came from within as Zelda’s muffled grumbles became something else entirely.

“An dunth ftherget: yerftha pthuppy, awm the adthult,” Zelda said.

For a moment, there was a pause, even as Maisie contemplated the strange noises coming out of her sister’s throat.  She hopped back then, her eyes gone wide.

Zelda chomped at the air and licked her lips.

“Finally!” Peanut spoke then, sighing for good measure the next instant.  She hopped from her perch atop the couch and lingered by the silver water bowls beside the kitchen.  “I’ve been waiting all year for this.  Huamns: I demand a separate bowl.  This one insists on drinking out of mine!”

Once again, Maisie nearly hopped in shock at the sudden new voice in the house, so strange yet so familiar.  She let out a befuddled whimper and tilted her head sideways, listening as the feline spoke her dismay.

“Aww!” Rhianna exclaimed as she rose from the couch.  “She didn’t know they were going to talk.”

“You guys didn’t tell her?” Michael asked.

Zelda’s ears lowered as though she were being reprimanded.

Peanut simply sat where she was, arching one of her furry eyebrows.  “So that’s it?  That’s the end of our water bowl discussion?”

Rhianna bent down and scooped Maisie off the floor, holding her against her chest as she lifted her up.  Confronted with the odd sounds coming out of her sisters’ mouths, Maisie felt confused and vulnerable.  She nuzzled into Rhianna’s neck, finding comfort and safety there.

“It’s alright little one,” Rhianna said, kissing the top of the little dog’s head.  “This is a magical time of year, and we’re so excited that you’re old enough to experience it with us this time.”

“I guess we better get ready, huh?” Michael asked, rising from the couch.  “What dangers do you think we’ll have to deal with this year?”

“Mean ol’ polar bears!” Zelda exclaimed.

“Another trip to the vet,” Peanut muttered.

“Sentient Christmas wreathes that try to land on our heads and squeeze us until we pass out,” Rhianna suggested.

“I like that one,” Michael said.

Rhianna, still holding Maisie aloft, walked through the kitchen and peered outside.  Together, they could see the wind whipping the snow this way and that.  But when it began moving in a circular motion, the woman couldn’t hold back her smile.  “Are you ready?” she asked Maisie.

At once, as though she had predicted its arrival down to the second, a flash of magic appeared in the back yard of the DeAngelo household.  Maisie began following that swirl of wind and snow, almost like she was drawing circles against the glass of the door with her nose.  Beneath her, Zelda stepped up against the door as well, her mouth spread into a smile.

Wider and wider the portal grew, its power causing the door to shake a bit as the wind pressed against it.  Though loud noises often frightened Zelda, she was more than eager to dive into the portal, and she scratched at the door to get her chance.

“What do you think?” Michael asked.  “Are we all dressed warm enough to take our little trip?”

“The excitement is what keeps me warm,” Zelda insisted.

Rhianna chuckled.  “Don’t you notice that every time we go to visit Santa, he’s always got a new outfit for us?”

“Alright, so what are we doing just sitting around here.  He’s waiting for us.”  He looked back at Peanut, still pacing around her water bowl.  Without any hesitation, he reached down and scooped her up, holding her under her arms.  “Let’s get to it!”

The portal in the back yard seemed stable then, its light flashing against the shed at the far side of the yard, and even the neighbor’s house.

Rhianna pulled on the door handle, and the wind jerked it forward.  Maisie skittered against the wind, even as Zelda charged forward, unable to rein in her excitement.  She skittered to a stop then, when she heard a tiny little whimper.  The older dog spun about, seeing how fiercely she nuzzled against Rhianna’s neck.

“It’s okay Maisie!” she promised.  “You’re going to love it.  It’s Christmas!”  She spun about then again and leapt into the swirling vortex.

Though it took all her courage to pry herself away from her safe little nook, Maisie lifted her head and noticed that Zelda was gone.  With a slow turn of her head, she looked to Rhianna, her ears tucked back.

“It’s alright, pig butt,” Michael teased, patting her on the head as he passed her.  “We’ll keep you safe, and before you know it, you’ll be having the best time!”  He closed the door behind Rhianna, and walked on, stopping at the lip of the portal.  Peanut kicked off his chest then, springing into the gateway.  Chuckling, Michael spun about, nodding to his wife and the little pup.  With a little backward hop, he disappeared into the swirling magic.

With all the rest of their family gone from view, Maisie looked back at Rhianna, nervously licking her lips.  The woman gave her a few loving pats down her spine, but she was already inching toward the portal.

“It’s okay Maisie,” Rhianna said.  “We’ll do it together, alright?”

Letting out a little whimper, the newest member of the DeAngelo family peered into the gaping maw of the incredible magic portal.  She closed her eyes and smashed her head back into Rhianna’s chest.

Though she was sympathetic to the dog’s nervousness, Rhianna couldn’t hold back a chuckle.  She grabbed the pup extra tight and jumped into the vortex.  With a roar of mystical power, the way closed behind them.

The DeAngelo family was once again on their way to visit an old friend.

*          *          *

Covered in snow, the black spots on Maisie’s body were lost in a sea of white.  It was only the darker coloring on her head that made her stand out then, and she barked in dismay when she looked ahead and didn’t see anyone around her.  Far in the distance, trees speckled the landscape, and mountains dotted the horizon, but there was nothing else, and she felt all alone.

The snow surrounding her body gave way then, and a warm hand scooped under her belly and plucked her off the ground.  In an instant, she was snuggled against Michael’s chest, and he brushed the remnants of frost off her body, planting a kiss on her head for good measure.

“We found you,” he said, rubbing her ears to warm them up.

As he turned about, Maisie could see that the rest of her family was there too.  Zelda marched through the snow, dismissing the cold and the uneven ground.  Peanut was more careful with her steps, working hard at keeping above the powdery snow.  Still, she moved in the same direction—toward the lodge not so far away that seemed to be awash in warmth and light.

The light framed Rhianna, who reached out to her husband and the little dog.  He took her hand, and together they made their way through the cold, though it seemed not to bother them in the slightest.

When they neared the door, it swung open, and a figure seemed to dance there for a moment before stopping and staring out into the cold.  Obscured by lanternlight, the DeAngelo family couldn’t quite identify who it was, but they sensed warm-heartedness.

A tiny, happy gasp escaped the maiden, who moved out onto the stone step at the lodge’s entrance.  With peach-colored skin that was made rosier by the nip of cold that rushed out at her, and fern-green hair that framed her angular face, she looked unlike any elf the family had seen.

They recognized the friendliness of one of Santa’s helpers though: an exuberance in her eyes, a mischievous yet welcoming smile parting her lips.

As pleasant and outgoing as Santa’s elven friends were, though, the DeAngelo’s were completely caught off guard by her unrestrained excitement as she threw out her arms and hopped into the air.

“You’re here!”

The maiden charged forward, unfazed by the snow.  She passed Zelda and Peanut, who sneered at being ignored.  She raced by Rhianna, who arched an eyebrow.  And as the chipper elf neared Michael, his eyes grew wider by the second, for she seemed unwilling to stop.

Stop she did though, just before knocking into him.  She brought her arms back together, playfully poking Maisie while making impish little noises.

The little dog’s eyes opened a bit wider then, and she passed glances at Rhianna and Michael, who simply shrugged at the peculiar behavior.

Her looks to her family weren’t lost to the elf maiden, who took a step back and tilted her head.  “You mean you don’t recognize me?” she said.

“I’m sorry,” Rhianna said.  “I don’t mean to sound rude, but…we don’t recognize you at all.”

“Well of course not, silly!” the maiden chirped.  “I haven’t met any of you—though of course I’ve heard all about you from Revan, and Leoden, and Narala, and Rosewyn.”  She turned back to the black and white dog cradled in Michael’s arms then.  “But you and I know each other very well,” she said to Maisie, “even if you don’t quite remember me.  I was the one who chose you for your family.”

Maisie’s eyes seemed to twinkle as she looked at the maiden.  She tilted her head to the side as though she was trying to understand her.

“You mean you’re the reason we can’t have nice things?” Peanut grumbled.

The maiden waived that notion away.  “You just have one really great thing,” she said, placing her hands on either side of Maisie’s face and lifting them up as if to make Maisie smile.  “When Santa realized Zelda needed a new friend last year, he asked me to help you find each other.  And I think I chose just right, because these people seem to love you very much.”

“She’s alright,” Zelda yipped.

“You can feign interest all you like, but we’ve seen you snuggling with her,” Michael said, eliciting a shrug from the other dog.

“So, you know us,” Rhianna said.  “But we haven’t quite been properly introduced.”

The maiden closed her eyes and shook her head.  “Of course.  Where are my manners.  I’m Cecelia,” she said, offering a slight curtsy to the guests for good measure.  “No need to introduce yourselves, I already know you well.”

“Have you been spying on us?” Peanut asked.

“We just observe you every now and again,” Cecelia informed.  “It’s nothing to worry about.”

“Then you’re aware of all the things she’s eaten,” Michael speculated.

“I am,” the maiden returned.

“The safety-pin?” Rhianna asked, squinting as if to deflect from the embarrassment.

“The cords?” Michael wondered.

“My toys!” Zelda exuberantly added.

“The couch,” Peanut sneered.

Cecelia chuckled then.  “Along with so many other things.  But it’s fine.  Some people are curious with their eyes.  Maisie is just curious with her mouth.”

“Well she’s certainly been an expensive gift,” Michael teased.  “But it’s a cost that is certainly worth it.”

“She won’t always be so mischievous,” the elf said, petting the pooch on the head.  “Anyway, we should be getting you all inside, and out of the cold.  I’m used to it, but I can see you all starting to shiver!”

“We’re fine,” Zelda said, through chittering teeth.  “But we are ready to meet up with Santa and finding out what the next big catastrophe is.  We’re ready to save the day!”

“Why are the rest of you always ready to jump headfirst into danger?” Peanut muttered.

Cecelia giggled.  “It’s alright, kitty.  We didn’t bring you here for danger this year.  Just dinner.  Come along,” she said, waving the rest of the family into the lodge.

As Michael and Rhianna walked side by side, he leaned over to her.  “Not fiskeblugen, I hope,” he whispered.

They felt warm at once upon entering the lodge, its lanterns offering up meager light, but the crackling fire in the main room burning brightly.  Cecelia closed the door behind them, strengthening that toasty feeling they enjoyed.

As they made their way through the building, the maiden gestured toward a room in the back.  Two new ensembles were strewn out atop a bed there, looking to be about the sizes of the human guests.  “As you said earlier, Santa is always happy to provide you a new outfit upon your arrival here in Tellest,” Cecelia said.  “These clothes should allow you to look a bit more appropriate for the other guests that we’ll be expecting.”

“Thank you,” Rhianna said, hurrying into the room to observe her new wardrobe.

When the rest of the family joined her there, Cecelia closed the door.  Rhianna held up her outfit—a brown, laced vest that would sit upon a puffy white shirt.  A pair of black slacks and new boots were present as well.  Some jewelry sat atop the pile: a pair of gold bands meant to clasp onto the arms just below the shoulders.

“This is going to look very slimming,” Rhianna teased.

Michael was already setting out his own attire.  “It’s times like these where I feel more dressed up than you, honey,” he said.  His garb included a shiny, short sleeved leather tunic with an assortment of buckles, with fancy leather bracers to match.  A fancy red shirt, along with black trousers of his own, completed the look.

After a few moments, the husband and wife donned their new apparel, and emerged from the room, looking dapper and elegant.

Cecelia hopped off the settee in the main room and burst into applause.  “You two look great!”

“Hey, what about us!” Zelda piped up then, eliciting a chuckle from the maiden.

“You know, after your costume changes last year, we thought maybe you could just be yourself this year.  After all, last year you were all wound up,” Cecelia joked.

“Wait a minute…” they heard then, and they looked down to see Peanut tilting her head sideways.  She alternated glances between the elf maiden and Rhianna, finally narrowing her eyes and letting her face go sour.  “You talked about the outfit back in our house.  They have been spying on us!”

“You have?” Michael asked.  “All the time?”

Cecelia simply shrugged and nodded.

Michael covered his chest with one arm and reached for his trousers with the other.

“I’m sure you know by now, Santa takes decency very seriously.  He watched you throughout the year to make sure that even though there were some stressful times, you still cared for and loved one another, and the rest of your family and friends as well.  And not just those folks, but the strangers you meet too.  After all, who is Santa if not the epitome of joy, purity and peace?”

Peanut clicked her tongue and looked away, as if bothered by the concept.

“Oh, come now, kitty,” Cecelia said.  “I’ve seen how friendly you’ve been to Michael and Rhianna’s friends that come over.  You’re very personable, even though you pretend not to be.  Even you skittish puppies let your guard down after a little bit when you know there’s no trouble!”

“Until our guests leave again,” Rhianna mentioned.  “Then they try to act all tough again and ‘chase’ the intruders out.”

“We have to earn our keep,” Zelda stated matter-of-factly.

While everyone spoke, Maisie kept looking at her sisters, confused by the way they seemed to speak the same strange noises as their people usually did.

“So how does he see us?” Rhianna wondered.  “Santa, I mean.  Does he just tap into our security cameras whenever he needs to check in on us?”  She gave Michael a playful smack on his shoulder.  “I told you we always have to unplug that thing.”

Cecelia giggled.  “I’m sure that if he wanted to, he could employ your surveillance golem to do his bidding.  But you must remember, Santa has powers beyond our imagining.  And some things are meant to be secret, aren’t they?”

The members of the DeAngelo family stood there, contemplating that sentiment.

Zelda, though, had other things in mind.  “I’m just going to ask him next time I see him.”

The people around her couldn’t help but laugh at that innocent manner of thought.

“You be sure to do that,” Cecelia said.  “Come along.  I’ll bring you to the kitchen where we can wait for our other guests to arrive.”

“That’s right, you did say that we’d be meeting with other folk,” Michael recalled.  “Are these people we’ve met before on our prior trips here, or are we making the acquaintance of someone new?”

“I suppose Santa wouldn’t mind if I told you all a little of why he’s brought you here today,” Cecelia said.  “You’ve already proven your heroism and helpfulness on countless occasions, and he’s excited to tout your achievements to the others once we all settle in.  You are to be our ambassadors this evening—heroes and diplomats who have saved alliances in the past, and even Christmas itself!”

“Ambassadors,” Rhianna echoed.  “I like that.  So, what kind of peace are we trying to broach, exactly?”

Cecelia nodded.  “You should be aware of the parties involved, if for nothing else to know and understand the situation.  I assure you though, all the troubles have nearly been rectified already anyway.

“Not long ago,” she continued, “the three races that populated this valley managed to live in relative peace with one another.  The giants of Hjelle Mountain, inhabiting the caves there, slumbered for months at a time, and then went into the northern wastes to hunt katarak mammoths.”

Zelda tilted her head to the side.  “But isn’t this the North Pole?” she wondered.  “How is it possible for them to go even more northerer?”

Cecelia shrugged.  “I guess that’s just what the southerners call it, and we call it that for consistency’s sake.”  She waved her hand, focusing back on her story.  “Anyway, the giants mostly ignored the other two races, for they were much too small to bother with, and they would keep to themselves in their own areas of the valley.

“The elves of Andal Forest communed with the smaller animals there, hiding from the cold of endless winter, and spending their days looking at the stars in the twilight of the frozen north.  They live close by—Santa has offered them employment on more than one occasion to help make his toys.  As you know, we elves have nimble fingers, so whenever something requiring a deft touch is needed, we’re usually the first that Mister Klaus asks.

“The dwarves of Clan Lochmoor are the final race that calls these frigid snows home, although they usually keep to themselves within the mines to the southwest.  Santa would probably never admit this, but he holds a special place in his heart for the dwarves, having carried on with their kind a great deal in his former home.”

Rhianna gave Michael a light elbow in his ribs and sent him a knowing glance when he looked her way.

“Everything was going rather well,” Cecelia went on.  “Santa was just about to establish a new alliance with the giants to help him put together a new workshop on the other side of the tundra so that we could get twice the work done.”

Cecelia bowed her head a little bit as she recalled the goings on in the area.  “But some things happened more recently that caused a schism between the three races, and it all started with a beautiful gem that was found recently out in the wilderness.  When a pair of giants were out on a hunt, chasing down a katarak, one of their clubs smashed into the ground, tearing through ice and earth and revealing the stone underneath.  But when the snow settled, and the katarak fled to safety, the giants realized they didn’t quite care to give chase anymore.  Below them, in the divot they’d carved out by mistake, a beautiful scarlet glow seemed to radiate into the frozen waste.  Though it was small, the ruby embedded in the stone entranced them, and they worked at plucking it from the stone.  Without tools though, even the fierce and powerful giants couldn’t tug it free.”

Cecelia led them into the lodge’s kitchen then and sat them at a small table.  With a smile, she moved her way through the room, fetching cured meat treats for the animals, and cookies for the humans.  “It didn’t take long for the other races to hear of its discovery,” she said then, as she placed two large glasses of eggnog at the table for Michael and Rhianna.  “In fact, it didn’t help that it was far enough away from Mount Hjelle as it was.  All three races claimed that the ruby was a part of their territory, and each of them were ready to go to war for it in that frigid place out there in the open.  But, well…something happened before then that caused even more problems than that.”

Before Cecelia could go on, the family heard the jingling of bells from a door on the opposite side of the lodge.  At once, Michael and Rhianna wore grins, for they sensed who had arrived, even without seeing him.

“Ho, ho, ho there,” a husky voice cried out.  “I do believe my great friends are here.”

Though Maisie was unfamiliar with the voice, her sisters knew it well three years later.  Zelda and Peanut finished up their snacks and sat upright and at attention.  While the cat kept her cool upon seeing Santa, Zelda couldn’t shroud her excitement, and her enthusiasm had her spinning in circles at once as the Christmas wizard entered the room.

“Santa!” the auburn-colored chihuahua shouted.  She jumped up against him several times, smacking her paws upon his burly legs.

“Welcome back, you four—ah, pardon me, it seems there are five of you now,” he said with a wink.

As he drew closer, Peanut too approached him, coiling around his leg in a gesture of reacquaintance.  Michael extended his arm, and Rhianna prepared to curtsy, but Santa was there in an instant.  “My friends, there is room for many things in the great north, but one thing we have no room for is politeness.”  Without offering up any other warning, he reached forth, and embraced the husband and wife in a great bear hug, squeezing them tight until each of them pressed out a little squeak.

“And we have yet to be introduced, little one,” Santa said as he neared Maisie.  She cowered away, just a bit, but the jolly fellow was quick, and his reach was long.  In a mere moment, he was there upon her, tousling the fur on her head.

“So, Cecelia,” he went on then, “how goes my dear friends?”

“Everything is going splendid, Sir,” she said.  “Their trip here went off without a hitch, and I’ve just been explaining the situation at hand.”

Michael nodded.  “Cecelia mentioned that there was no catastrophe to clean up this year, but it sounds like war is ready to break out right at your doorstep.”

“Ah, then you’ve heard about the ruby,” Santa surmised.

“And we heard that there was something else that caused even bigger problems,” Rhianna added.

“That is putting it mildly, yes,” Santa said.  “And it didn’t help that the ruby struck one of the races with a seemingly relentless curiosity.  Where there was one gem, they figured, there were sure to be more.  Almost at once, the dwarves set out, aiming their mine in the direction of where they thought the ruby was.  Well, there is perhaps nothing so important to a dwarf as something shiny—at least in these parts—and their mirth and their interest drove them forth faster than anyone could have imagined.  All told, everyone in the region can take some inspiration in their hard work.”

“But…” Cecelia said, urging Santa back toward the point he was trying to make.

He nodded, understanding that he had steered a bit off track.  “That unyielding persistence and determination wasn’t without its own troubles,” he went on.  “In their blind craving for more gems, the dwarves dug straight through many days and nights, causing near-irreparable damage to more than just their bodies.  They pushed right past where the ruby was originally found, underneath the tundra, and into the earth right below where the giants slumbered.  You can imagine how upset one of the giants was when he collapsed into a tremendous sinkhole that opened up right beneath his bed!

“Enraged, the giant erupted in a fit of violence, reaching for the dwarves who attacked his home,” Santa continued, waving his hands and looking at the ceiling as though he were watching it all play out before him.  “The mine shaft that the dwarves constructed to that point fell in on itself as he knocked away support beams and stabilizing pillars.  It was all the dwarves could do to sneak past the giant while he flailed and hollered.  In the darkness, they saw much better than he did, and could scale the shallow pit that they’d accidentally opened up with some manner of ease, thanks to their mattocks.

“They didn’t escape his gaze for long though,” he clarified.  “Once he climbed out of his new basement, he saw the little dwarves exiting right through the front door of his cave and pursued them again.”

“I get it,” Rhianna muttered to Michael.  “I’d be mad too if someone woke me up without any coffee.”

“While all this was going on, mind you, I was in the frozen wastes, solving our ruby problem,” Santa said.  “Imagine my surprise when a half dozen dwarves and a mighty giant charged across the area, looking like they thought I was aiming to steal the thing.  But they just passed me by, completely unconcerned with what I was doing—mind you I was working at stabilizing the relationship between the three races.”

“So, what ended up happening?” Michael wondered.  “I don’t see this ending well.”

“It nearly ended in bloodshed!” Santa confirmed.  “The giant chased the dwarves into the Andal Forest, tearing a whole tree out at the roots.  He swung it about like a mighty club, knocking over other trees while he was at it, and opening up a new sinkhole right into another branch of the dwarves’ mine.  Some of them managed to scramble into that, but the giant blocked it off with one of the fallen trees before they all could.

“By the time I arrived, and tried to invoke some calm, the elves had gathered up arms and drawn their weapons,” he stated.

“To be fair,” Cecelia chimed in, “they probably thought it was an invasion.”

“I am not in disagreement about anyone’s feelings or fears,” Santa agreed.  “But a whole series of accidents nearly thrust the region into chaos that I was completely unprepared for.  It took a great speech and an impassioned plea to make sure that the area I stood within didn’t become a battlefield.  But, with luck, I settled the tensions, and didn’t end up a splattering on the snow-covered forest floor, or a pincushion filled with elven arrows.”

“And now we’re here to celebrate!” Zelda cried out.

“That’s right!” Santa cheerfully confirmed.  “I brought you here for reasons twofold: first, you’ve done me a great kindness for three years already, and if anyone can speak to the importance of everyone getting along, especially during this time of year, it’s the DeAngelo family.  I also know that every time I bring you here I have you risk your lives, so I’m hoping it will be a nice change of pace for you to come here without everything falling apart around you!”

“We’re just happy to be able to visit you again,” Rhianna said.  “Though of course none of us are the kind of people to turn down free food.”

“Except for Peanut,” Michael muttered.  “She can be pretty finnicky when she wants to be.”

The cat sneered at him.  “If it’s finnicky to request three sardines, all perpendicular to one another, carefully strewn upon a velvet pillow, I’m afraid I am.”

Before anyone could react to that absurd comment, they heard a hasty pounding on the door.

Cecelia stepped forward, tapping Santa on his shoulder.  “You stay here and talk to your friends.  I’ll go tend to our latest guests.”

“Thank you, my dear,” came his joyful reply.  He turned back to the DeAngelo family and clapped his gloved hands together.  “What do you say I bring you to the dining area?  We have plenty of goodies and treats to be had, and I know that even though Cecelia is helping where she can, my attention will be divided.  Better I leave you in the presence of some tasty refreshments than here tending to the kitchen.  I don’t want anyone to think you’re the help,” he said with a wink.

The DeAngelo family took what little remained of their drinks, cookies and meat snacks, and followed Santa into what felt like a maze of corridors.

“Santa?” Michael asked.  “I’ve been wondering: how exactly are you supposed to indulge the delegate from the giants?  The lodge is roomy in some places, but it’s hardly big enough to…”  His words trailed off then, as they entered the main dining area of the evening.

A series of steps descended somewhat into the ground, but the walls remained high, without a second floor to ruin the scene.  The view was beautiful as well, for the ceiling in the chamber was made of glass that was so fine, it seemed to be invisible.  Santa’s guests looked at the sky in awe, observing the starry tapestry, and the aurora that passed by overhead.

A wide banquet table was situated on the far side of the chamber, and to one side, a tall evergreen stood, adorned with many lights and baubles, along with long strings of garland.  The tree itself would have been as tall as a giant, they realized.

“You were saying?” Santa said.

“Don’t worry about him,” Rhianna teased.  “He’s just way too cynical.”  She nudged him on his side.  “You see?  Everything works out fine if you just believe.”

Their jolly host let a hearty laugh shake him to his core.  As that laughter continued, he turned about, heading back through the lodge to meet his companion, and the arriving guests.

Left alone, Michael and Rhianna and their pets looked across the room, spotting the food that the north had prepared for them.  Nuts, dried, thin cuts of meats, grapes and cheeses rested on the table on the other side of the room.  The food sat illuminated by a beautiful fireplace across the way, and the mugs and dishware seemed to shine in that light.

While the sight of it was enough to make anyone salivate, the lot of them could hear the frantic licks of one of their family members.  They all looked about, until they sensed the desperation of the newest member of the household.  Maisie licked her lips, and only ventured a glance elsewhere when she felt everyone’s gaze land upon her.  She looked back to the food a moment later, her whole body shaking at the prospect of the tremendous dinner that was about to be in her belly.

“Come on babies,” Rhianna said with a laugh.  “Let’s go see what we can get you to tide you over.”

“Assume the begging position!” Zelda said as she hopped on her two back feet as they drew closer to the banquet table.

When they passed closer to the far end of the room, Michael and Rhianna noticed the tremendous double doors built into the side of the lodge.  No doubt that was fashioned just for the delegate from the giants—they wondered if the lodge was built with them in mind, or if that gateway was added later.

Their attention shifted elsewhere, then, for as they passed the sides of the table, they saw the magnificent gem that was responsible for the event that evening.  The beautiful ruby sat at the center of the table, lying against an ornate horn that seemed a hollow attempt at seeming anywhere near as attractive as the real focal point.

Michael and Rhianna approached the table and picked a few pieces of food off the table and fed the animals that crowded around them.  Once the dogs and the cat were somewhat placated, Rhianna picked up a silver goblet, taking a gulp of the crimson drink inside it.

“Whoa!” she said.  “That’s the best wine I think I’ve ever had.  Santa knows his stuff.”

Michael shrugged.  “I don’t know if I’ll like whatever’s in here,” he said as he reached for a golden mug that seemed to overflow with foam.  “I wouldn’t mind some more eggnog though.”

“Give it a try,” Rhianna suggested.  “Who knows?  Maybe Tellest beer is something you can actually enjoy.”

He couldn’t argue with that idea, and he took a small sip of the beverage then.  His eyes grew wide and he licked his lips.  “Oh wow.  That tastes just like butterb—”

“Don’t say it!” Rhianna interrupted.  “Even in Tellest we’re not safe from trademark infringement!”

Michael accepted that wisdom with a nod, and happily drank from the mug again.

“I see the party started without me,” they heard then.  On the other side of the room, a newcomer emerged from the corridor they had exited from a few moments earlier.  “The big man always sets up one heck of a feast, so I’m surprised ye left anything fer the rest of us!”

They could see, even from that distance, that the first of Santa’s other guests was a dwarf—the delegate of Clan Lockmoor, no doubt.  Neither Michael or Rhianna had ever seen a dwarf dressed quite so dapper though.  He wore golden bands in his dark brown beard and hair, keeping his coif proper and clean.  A fancy vest, lined with black and yellow trim, rested over a linen shirt that was tucked into leather bracers as well.

“Halgrum’s me name,” he said as he drew closer.  “I’m sure our mutual friend told ye all about the spat we dwarves had with the elves and the giants, eh?”

“He told us bits and pieces,” Rhianna replied.  “It’s good that you were able to avoid a dangerous conflict.”

“Aye,” Halgrum said as he rounded the table.  “The big man has a habit of bringing out the best in people.  Why, just a few months ago, before all the mess with…”  His words trailed off once he realized the humans weren’t the only “ambassadors” that Santa had brought to the feast.  With a gasp, he threw his hands up to his face.  “Puppies!”  He fell to his knees then, petting the dogs with his stubby hands.  Peanut, not immediately revered, sneered and strolled beside him then, earning a few pets of her own.

“I think I see why Santa invited us here this year,” Michael snickered.

Before Halgrum could reign in his thoughts to speak to Santa’s ambassadors again, the DeAngelo family were attended to by another of the delegates.

“I could have sworn I heard one of those malodorous tunnel-carvers from Lochmoor,” came an unexpected voice.  Neither Michael nor Rhianna could hide their surprise, having hopped back a few steps at the sudden appearance of the elf from the Andal Forest.

Halgrum grunted, and rose from the floor, peering past the table.  “Ye got to be careful around this one,” he warned.  “He’s sneakier than a shadow, and greedier with gold and gems than a dragon.”

Though the two delegates slung harsh words at one another, their tones were a little less callous.  Still, when Halgrum circled around to the other side of the table to meet the elf there, nobody could dismiss the tension there.  At any moment, it seemed, a war was fit to break out.

Though the well-dressed elf looked unarmed, his auburn tunic, etched with silver thread, seemed like it could hide a small blade here or there.  Wide eyes caught underneath a furrowed brow did nothing to stave off the thought of sinister intentions, either.

A moment later, both the elf and the dwarf cracked a smile, exchanging a handshake as though they had known each other for some time.

“I think you’ll find it hard for anyone to express any ill desires here under the shelter of our gracious host’s sanctuary,” the elf said, somehow aware of the worries of the ambassadors.  “You must be the friends that our mutual companion spoke of.  I haven’t been around humans much, but my guess is that you’re Michael, and you’re Rhianna?” he asked, pointing to each in turn.

“That’s right,” Rhianna said.  “And these fluffkins are Peanut, Zelda and Maisie.”

“It is my honor to be meeting you,” the elf said.  “I am the delegate from the Andal Forest.  My name is Beroras.”

“You two seem to know each other pretty well,” Michael said.  “But you don’t seem all that hostile to each other.  Forgive me for mentioning it, but weren’t you two and the other delegate supposed to be on kind of uneasy terms?”

Halgrum shrugged, but Beroras nodded at the assessment.

“It’s true that we’ve had a tumultuous few months,” the elf said.  “Indeed, it looked like the ivory white of the wasteland would be stained crimson thanks to our greed.  It wasn’t always like this, of course.  I’d run across Halgrum a few times in the past, and we always got along without much fuss.”

“We kept to our own, which is what makes good neighbors,” the dwarf teased.

“Ah, but great neighbors learn to see the value in one another,” a hearty voice called out.  Santa entered the room then from the same corridor that the rest had emerged from.  Even in that short while since they had seen him last, Michael and Rhianna realized that the jolly fellow had cleaned himself up somewhat, wearing a tighter-fitting red tunic that was inlaid with golden etchings.  “We are almost ready for the feast!”

“That must mean Rurnar is around,” Halgrum said.  “Though I can’t say I felt him bearing down on us like a crash of wooly rhinos.”

“That’s because his invitation specifically requested a soft and reserved approach,” Santa joked.  “You’ve seen all the decorations we have in place here.  I can’t have them toppling from their shelves.”

Santa passed the other delegates and his ambassadors and walked toward the towering double doors.  With a powerful shove, he thrust the doors open, and the rest of the attendants saw the tremendous final guest of the evening.

Wearing matted furs and donning a scraggly beard and unkempt hair, the giant, Rurnar, seemed a little underdressed for the occasion.  He took one step forward, and as soft as it was, everyone in attendance could feel the seismic shift beneath their feet.

A little whimper emerged from Maisie’s throat, and she ran behind Michael, pawing at him for protection.

Halgrum and Beroras acted with more courage, approaching the doorway and drawing up behind Santa.  They offered salutations of their own—a nod from the dwarf, and a bow from the elf—before Rurnar dipped his head beneath the doorway, just shy of being tall enough to accommodate his immense size.

“He must eat even more than Maisie,” Zelda whispered to Peanut.

“Ye don’t exactly look the part of a fancy delegate,” Halgrum teased then.  “We should have felt ye comin’, surely.  But I’m as surprised as I would be if I had a new nose growin’ on me face that we didn’t smell ye.”

The giant said nothing—just offering up a low grumble—but their host turned around and raised his hands to limit the smelly jokes.

“Now, now,” Santa said.  “It’s not exactly easy for a giant to find or make such fancy attire as you have brought with you,” he said to Halgrum and Beroras.  “I told Rurnar he didn’t need to worry about things.  I have a change of clothes for him right here.”

The rest of the attendees looked around, trying to spot where a new outfit might be, but they couldn’t find anything out of sorts.

Then, with a snap of Santa’s fingers, a bright light filled the lodge, reflecting off the large glass windows.  When the illumination faded, Rurnar had transformed.  His matted furs were replaced by a huge linen vest that was lined with fluffier, fancier fur.  His breeches now fully covered his legs and tucked into boots that looked like it would have taken ten cobblers a year to make.  Rurnar’s beard and hair were more deliberately placed then as well.  With large golden bands bundling the many strands together, he looked somewhat like Halgrum, though perhaps ten times as large.

“Thank you, Santa,” Rurnar said in his low, deep voice.  “Now I don’t have to worry about taking my annual bath.”

Beroras stepped forward then, tossing his hands out to the side.  “Umm, I don’t think that is any reason to—”

Santa turned and gestured to the elven delegate to not bother with that train of thought.  “We’re here to have a good time,” he joked.

Michael raised his mug then.  “I’ll toast to that.”

“Not everyone has their drinks,” Rhianna chided.  “You just wanted an excuse to get a refill.”

Her husband shrugged and nodded, unwilling to contest that assessment.

“It’ll take a bit of time to get the appropriate flagon for our mighty tall friend here,” Halgrum said, pointing to Rurnar.  “But the food looks ripe for eatin’.”

“Oh that?” Santa asked.  “Those are just the appetizers.”  He clapped his hands, the sound seeming to resound through the lodge.

“Christmas wizard,” Rhianna whispered to her husband.

As the echo of his hand clapping dissipated, the attendants heard another noise take its place.  Like the sound of soldiers marching, boots tapped against the floor, approaching the banquet area.

“It’s an invasion!” Zelda cried out.

She soon learned, along with the rest of the attendees, that more companions of Santa’s were tapped to lend a hand to the all-important event.

One by one, a parade of elves entered the room, led by Cecelia.  She sent a wink in Beroras’s direction, but kept to her route, leading the procession of helpers toward the table.  Twelve elven maidens and an elf male carried covered foods to the guests, the aromas of the meals filling the room.  In a concerted effort, the elves placed their dishes upon the table, and in unison pulled the metal coverings from atop them.  Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, beans and corn and carrots, heaping piles of bread, and so many more smatterings of food lay strewn across the long table, causing the delegates’ mouths to water.

The elves weren’t done though, it seemed.  For while the procession of elves brought food and further refreshments for the smaller of the delegates, a quartet of burly dwarves pushed a pair of carts into the room from a corner corridor of the lodge.  The first cart carried an entire barrel of ale, and the one following it held a stack of mammoth ribs—enough to sate any giant’s appetite.

“This is incredible,” Michael said.  “I feel like royalty or something.”

“That you should, my friends,” Santa said.  “You’ve helped save Christmas on three occasions, and now, you finally get your much deserved…”  His words trailed off, and he tilted his head to the side as he stared at Michael and Rhianna.  “Something seems to be missing.”  He bent over, looking underneath the banquet table then, where he saw the other three members of the DeAngelo family.  “Why, what are you doing under here?  You’re also our guests of honor!” he said.

With smiles on their faces, Michael and Rhianna lifted Maisie and Zelda onto seats at the table, watching their eyes go wide at the sight of the food.  Peanut, however, refused any assistance in the matter.

“Get your hands away from me, peasant,” she told Michael.  Once she arrived there, however, and saw a plate of fish not far from her spot at the table, she eased up, and even pressed her head against Michael’s hand.

“Thank you to my lovely friends for all their assistance this evening,” Santa said, addressing the wait staff and attendants.  “You’re all getting something extra nice in your stockings this year.”  Recognizing their cue, the elves flashed cherubic smiles at the guests and their host before taking their leave.  Santa turned and looked about to his eight other guests, bringing his hands together, before indicating toward the table.  “Please, my friends: take your seats and eat, drink and be merry.  We have a great deal to celebrate.”

One by one, the other ambassadors and diplomatic delegates took their seats at the table.  Rurnar recognized that no seat would possibly accommodate him, and rested on his rump, taking up a spot on the floor closest to the doors from which he had entered.

“Hi, how are you?” Rhianna asked, keenly aware that if he wanted to, he could probably eat her in far fewer bites than the ribs Santa prepared for him.

“I’m better now that I’m indoors,” Rurnar said in his rich timbre.  “The cold is harsh this time of year, and it’s not exactly easy to find shelter when you’re this big.”

“I rather like the cold,” Rhianna said.  “But we also have like twenty blankets at home to bundle ourselves up in.”

“And we’re always looking for more,” Michael said from the far end of the banquet table, clicking his tongue and sending a wink their way.

Rurnar let out a chuckle that nearly shook the room.  “I have a blanket that was made out of mammoth fur that could cover this whole building.  Of course, it’s at the bottom of a sinkhole now,” he grumbled, keeping his gaze on Halgrum until he turned to regard him.

“Are ye still on about that?” the dwarf asked.  “I told ye, a lot of people spend good money to get a basement, and ye got one for free.  We did hard labor for ye out of the goodness of our hearts.”

“Most folks get something like that while they aren’t in their home,” the giant insisted.  He looked back to Rhianna then, squaring his jaw.  “I know this doesn’t make sense, but I’m a bit afraid of heights.  Don’t you ever have those dreams where you’re falling and then you have a sudden stop?  Well imagine my surprise when that dream turned out to be real!”  He reached back and rubbed his rump.  “Truth be told, the dwarves were lucky they made it out of there alive.  There’s a tremendous crater where I landed.”

“Shaped like his rear-end, if the rumors are to be true,” Beroras said as he passed behind Rhianna and grabbed a nearby glass of wine.

Rurnar narrowed his large eyes.  “Those allegations are wildly exaggerated.”  He paused to consider things.  “Alright, there’s some truth to it.  Clan Lochmoor is still on retainer to repair my bed or make me a new one.”

“Well when we have a spare month, we’ll send half our craftsmen,” Halgrum said before tearing into a succulent turkey leg.  After bringing up his arm, ready to wipe his beard on his sleeve, he looked to Michael who sent a discerning glance his way, reminding him where he was.  With a little sigh escaping his lips and shaking the bristles in his beard, Halgrum reached for the nearest napkin.  “What was I saying ‘afore I was so rudely interrupted?  Ah, yes: the winters this far up north can be beautiful, surely.  But the summers?  They can be—”

“Oh, what do you know?” Beroras said from behind them.  “You spend all your time underground anyway.”

Halgrum turned to the teasing elf, who warmed himself by the fire.  “And yet, even though I do, I have this lovely bronze complexion, and ye look like a pasty white snowman.  How’d that happen?”

Michael took a moment to enjoy his surroundings while the delegates participated in another round of verbal sparring.  Snow started to fall outside, landing upon the glass ceiling above.  Far higher above, even the stars looked like wintry snowflakes.  Michael hummed to himself as he took another sip of his tasty beverage, before setting his sights on the magnificent tree to his side.  Many of the decorations were small wooden discs, with illustrated sigils of the cities and settlements of Tellest depicted upon them.  While he scrutinized the few that he didn’t know, the lights upon the tree seemed to flicker, and he tilted his head to the side to try and understand why.  Before his eyes then, they rose off the branches, and fluttered to new spots.

“Lumibugs,” the man cheerfully said to himself.

“If I might have everyone’s attention,” Santa said then.  He walked along the open area of the floor in front of the banquet table, preparing for his speech.  “I am so glad that you are all here with us tonight.  This is a very special time of year where togetherness is very meaningful.  Today also marks a very special occasion because our three delegates who represent the elves, dwarves and giants are signing a special agreement that reiterates years of friendship, alliance and cooperation.  And it’s all thanks to that tiny, sparkling jewel there,” he said, pointing to the ruby at the center of the banquet table.

The animals, eating the various fish, meats and cheeses, paused for a moment to look upon the gemstone, before resuming their feast.

Try as she might though, Maisie couldn’t wrench her gaze from the shimmering ruby.

“I was lucky enough to be called to help when I was,” Santa went on.  “You all claimed to have the right to it, citing how you were harmed by the others after its discovery.  But as much as it glitters in the light, at the end of any day, it would have just been a rock.  Together, though, you were able to make something magical.

“Rurnar, you found it—and I don’t think it would ever have been revealed if not for your hunt in the frozen wastes,” Santa insisted.  “Beroras, you and your people took something simple and imbued it with great magical power, utilizing a millennium of experience to turn it into something more than just a shiny stone.  And Halgrum, you worked together with some of your finest craftsmen to fashion a pendant powerful enough to house what became a fine artifact the likes of which this region hasn’t seen in quite some time.  And now, with the ruby fixed into a pendant, we’ve made not just a symbol of solidarity between all the people of the great north, but a tremendous tool that we can use to not only repair the damage that was done to your homes, but also the strain that has built between the giants, dwarves and elves.  As per the agreement, you’ll each alternate using the pendant, employing its enhancements of strength and speed to restore your forest, mine and cave.  Afterwards, we’ll…”

As Santa went on, the delegates and ambassadors watched in wide-eyed wonder.  Their host had tremendous poise, and a charismatic gift for planning, and everyone in attendance truly felt united.

But one little guest, who could not quite understand the words, couldn’t help but remain distracted.  Maisie’s gaze remained fixed on the jeweled centerpiece, and she licked her lips as she considered how it might taste.

“With our friendships renewed, I see a time of great prosperity in place for us over the next century or more,” Santa said.  “So, if I may, I would like to ask that you all raise a glass.  Here’s to an alliance that will result in great things for our region, for now and for long to come.”

The delegates raised their glasses, mugs and barrels, and Santa’s ambassadors did the same, toasting to the grand plan.

By the time those drinks reached the table once more, however, the attendants realized that there was a subtle change about the place.

“Ahem,” Peanut said.  “Humans?  We have a problem.”

For a moment, Michael and Rhianna looked about, not realizing what had occurred.  They spotted Zelda’s tucked back ears then, and watched as she lowered herself down toward the table.

“What’s wrong, Zelda?” Rhianna asked.  “Why do you look so sad all of a sudden?”

Michael arched his eyebrow as he considered her odd behavior.  “She never does anything wrong,” he speculated.  “But she always looks worried whenever…”  He looked at Maisie as his words trailed off and watched as she looked away in shame.

Maisie licked her lips again and moved her head forward as she burped.  It didn’t take long for her humans to realize what had transpired.

By then, the other delegates, along with Santa, noted the strange shift of mood in the room.

Rhianna remained quiet, but her widening eyes gave away her feelings of concern.

“What’s the matter dear?” Santa asked.  “Is everything al—” He gasped upon realizing what happened, and his face went red once he realized that the pendant was gone from the center of the table.

“You seem surprised,” Michael deadpanned.  “Aren’t you always watching?  Shouldn’t you have seen this coming from a mile away?”

“That’s…that’s one of the great embellishments of my character,” Santa claimed.  “What, do you think I never sleep?”

By then, the other attendants began to understand what occurred.

“If we don’t have the pendant, the mines might not last long enough to be properly reinforced,” Halgrum stated.

“Let alone my cave,” Rurnar added.

“And as hard as the soil is, it’s tremendously difficult to plant new trees,” Beroras stated.  “We were going to use the pendant to aid us in that endeavor.”

“Now, now,” Santa said, raising his hands to placate his guests.  “Let’s not worry ourselves too greatly here.  There is a simple solution to—”

“Where’s the elf that took me dagger?” Halgrum asked.  “A little incision right on her belly ought to get us right to the ruby.”

“Whoa,” Michael said, pushing out his chair and rising from his seat.  “Are you a board-certified veterinarian?  Because if you aren’t, you can forget poking at our puppy with any pointy objects!”

“We don’t need a knife,” Rurnar said.  “I’ll squeeze it out of her and get the ruby back in no time.”

Rhianna held out her hand and pushed it against the giant’s as he reached forward.  “Settle yourself down there, big guy.  Nobody squishes our dog but us.”

While everyone else grew louder and louder, the elf pacing behind the table offered up a quiet solution that nobody heard.

“You know,” Beroras said, “we could always just…wait.”

The stern voices filled the banquet hall, and Maisie, still unable to understand them, let her eyes dart from one place in the room to the next.  She looked to Michael, who rose from his seat and yelled at the dwarf.  She looked to Rhianna, who used her “angry” voice toward the giant.  She looked to Peanut, who shook her head at the young dog in disappointment.  And she looked at Zelda, who returned a look to her before saying some more words that she just couldn’t quite understand.

“You know you’re not supposed to eat stuff that isn’t given to you,” Zelda said.  “Now everyone is mad and worried about you!”

Against that chorus of louder and fiercer voices, Maisie hopped from her seat, and looked about for any sign of peace.  Her gaze settled upon the giant doors that Rurnar had entered from, and though she knew that they were closed, she thought perhaps she could scratch them open.

Maisie darted in that direction, and to her surprise, bolted faster than she ever had before.  Unable to stop before she reached the doors, she collided into them.  Rather than hurt herself though, she barreled right through them, tearing one of the doors off its hinges.  A cold gust of wind burst into the room, sending shivers down the spines of those in attendance.  Maisie had moved so fast that nobody quite realized what happened, but it didn’t take long for her family to realize she was there no longer.

“Maisie?” Michael called out.

“What just happened?” Rhianna asked.  “Where’s our puppy?”

“She just…took off,” Michael replied.  “She was here one second, and the next it was like a bolt of black-and-white lightning.”

The delegates rose up, and looked about as well, peering this way and that, and approaching the battered doors.

“She has the ruby pendant,” Santa explained.  “She has the power of the enchanted gemstone, so she can move as quick as the wind, and she’s as strong as Rurnar—if not more so.  Fret not, though.  We can see where she went, and—”

“I can see her trail!” Halgrum shouted.  “Little puppy footprints, leading out into the snow.  Beroras, you’re good at tracking, ain’t ye?”

“I’ve got keen eyes,” the elf confirmed.

“Then let’s get after her!”

Rurnar stepped out into the cold then as well, shaking the ground with his urgency.  “She’s moving far and fast,” he said, pointing to the distance between her paw prints.  “Come on then.  A higher vantage will give you a better chance at seeing her trail.”  He lowered his hands, letting the smaller delegates climb onto his palms before he lifted them up to his shoulders.

“Will you kindly…” Santa tried to say.  “…And they’re gone.  Well this is a right proper mess that I wasn’t expecting.”  He turned to his remaining guests, his ambassadors who had saved Christmas on more than one occasion, and realized they had one of their own that needed help that year.  “I’m surprised you aren’t out there as well, charging after them.”

“We don’t even know where to begin,” Michael said, his eyes wide with confusion, and his voice crawling with exasperation.

“We couldn’t possibly keep up with the others,” Rhianna said.  “But we can’t let them catch her Santa.  None of them are thinking clearly!”y6667

“Alright,” he replied, offering a reassuring nod.  “You all are calm and listening to reason, which is more than I can say for the others.  They can try to track her, but as frantic as she was, and in an unfamiliar region, I’m sure she’ll be darting all over the place before she finds somewhere that she feels safe.”

“But we don’t have any tracking skills,” Peanut declared.

“What?” Zelda piped up, clearly offended.  “I am always checking the perimeter for signs of any mischief.  My nose is a finely tuned machine!”

Peanut narrowed her eyes.  “I’ve seen them throw you food that you’ve missed before, and you couldn’t sniff it out even when it dropped right under you.”

“Luckily, I won’t be asking anyone to track anything,” Santa said.  “With a little Christmas magic, I think I’ll be able to help you find your missing pup before you know it.”

“And before the others find her,” Rhianna said.

“They’ll tire themselves out before long, and they’ll need to come back here to regain their strength,” Santa assured.  “Why don’t you four follow me?”

The DeAngelo family did as instructed, shadowing their host as he walked out into the cold of the snowy night.  They saw Maisie’s tracks as clearly as the delegates had, but they didn’t linger there, for Santa turned to the side, and walked alongside the lodge until they passed its far edge.  There, not so far away, was another building that looked just as warm and inviting as the lodge had.  Santa led the family there and pressed through the swinging door at the front of the building.

In the soft light of the building, they couldn’t see much, but Santa wore a smile as he turned to regard them.

“I’m not sure what’s in there, but you seem pretty happy,” Zelda said.

“I’ll be lending you three things to aid you this night,” Santa said.  “I think you’ll recognize this first one well enough.”  He turned toward the building once more, peering into the darkness.  A moment later, he brought his hand to his mouth, blowing a puff of air off of his hand as though he had plucked magic from the aether and scattered it into the building.  Sure enough, that magic took form, brightening the lanterns that were strewn about the building.  There, in the center of the main room, was a familiar-looking sleigh.

“Is that the one that we—” Michael began.

“The very same,” Santa expressed with his joyous tone.  “Only this year, I won’t be asking your little pup to pull it on her lonesome.  Perhaps one of my friends could help you in that regard.”

Santa placed two fingers in his mouth and let a high-pitched whistle pierce the air.  Almost at once, his guests heard the clip-clop of hooves, and they saw shadows moving from the pens in the building.

“Now, I can’t let you use all of my friends here,” Santa said.  “I need them strong and rested for Christmas Eve.  But I think you’ll find that even one of them will give you the strength to outpace Halgrum, Beroras and Rurnar.”

As he finished speaking, Santa’s friends emerged from deeper in the stable.  One by one, a dozen reindeer entered the room—including one with a shiny red nose.

Zelda gasped, and her eyes grew large.  She sprinted forward.

“Svetlana!” she cried out, running past the more famous deer, who grumbled and returned to his pen, just a little dejected.

When Zelda reached her reindeer friend from their previous adventure, Svetlana playfully tapped her hoof at the ground and reached down to nuzzle the pup.

“I see your little one has a strong memory,” Santa said.

“That night when we returned, she would not stop talking about her favorite reindeer,” Rhianna said.

“And even when the next day came, and she couldn’t talk, she still woofed at us like we could understand her,” Michael added.  “For weeks.”

Peanut clicked her tongue then.  “So, we’ve got a sleigh and someone to pull it.  What good will that do us?”

Rhianna flashed a half-hearted smile.  “Ignore the cynical kitty.  But…she does have a point.  Your other friends have an experienced tracker with them.  I have a hard time finding my glasses when they’re on my face.”

“Fret not,” Santa said.  “I think the last item I’ll lend you will be the one that helps you most.  Follow me.”

Michael and Rhianna did as they were told, chasing after their host as he moved toward a desk in the corner of the room.  Peanut remained in front of the sleigh, taking the opportunity to groom herself, while Zelda continued speaking with Svetlana the reindeer, regaling her with all her tales and exploits over the previous two years.

“Here we are,” Santa said, pointing toward a mirror that hung from the wall above the desk.

“Ah yes,” Michael said.  “The power of self-confidence.”

Santa snorted and laughed at that notion, steadying himself on the desk before shaking his head.  “I’m sure you’ll have no need of that.  But what you might benefit from is a little magic.  Rhianna, no doubt you’ve been reading that tome you were gifted a couple years back?”

“Front and back,” she replied.  As she considered his words, her eyes widened in anticipation.  “You’re going to use ‘old world’ magic, aren’t you?”

“Do you want to see how I always see the things I need to?” Santa asked.

His guests couldn’t keep their heads from nodding, though they were shocked still when they saw as Santa lifted his hand and pointed toward the mirror again.  His skin began to glow, and before either of them could lift their hands to stifle the illumination, the whole room was awash in light, stealing away their vision.

A moment later, the light faded, and their vision slowly returned to them.  Santa stood there, a proud smile on his face.  Together, Michael and Rhianna looked to the mirror, realizing that it no longer offered up a reflection.  Instead, it showed their lost dog—Maisie charged through the falling snow, toward the massive forest before her.

“Is this right now?” Michael asked.

“You think I run my magic mirrors on a delay?” Santa asked.  “This is live.”

“A real-life Santa tracker,” Rhianna muttered.

“Only it’s tracking Maisie,” Michael added.  “Look at how fast she’s moving.”

“I think it’s about time we get you moving,” Santa said.  “Svetlana will carry you quickly, but the others have a head start on you.  There’s no way they’ll catch your little one, but they could scare her into running farther away or into a dangerous situation.”  He plucked the mirror off the wall and handed it to Rhianna.  “You’ll need this, I’m sure.  Just remember to keep it safe.”

“Because if it falls into the wrong hands, it could lead to disaster for Christmas?” she wondered.

“No,” Santa said.  “The magic I’ve enacted will only work for a day, and then it will revert to just another mundane mirror.  But if it breaks, it’s still seven years bad luck!”

“And we won’t be able to find Maisie,” Michael added.  “Come on everyone.  Before the others get too far ahead of us.”

While Michael, Rhianna and Peanut climbed into the familiar sleigh, Zelda hopped upon the ground by Svetlana.  Santa set everything in place, gently placing the bit inside the reindeer’s mouth before urging the chihuahua into place alongside her family.

“I’m sure that I’ll be seeing you all soon,” he said.  “When you get back, we can resume our feast in full—I’ll keep things warm until then.”

“Thank you, Santa,” Michael said.

“It’s just another adventure,” he said with a laugh before lightly tapping Svetlana on the rump to get her started.

The reindeer pulled the sleigh out into the snow, and immediately set to work, building up speed and tugging the DeAngelo family along.

“You go Svetlana!” Zelda cried, peering over the lip of the sleigh.

Rhianna held up the mirror, squinting past the falling snow as it whipped by them.  She caught Michael looking at him and clicked her tongue.  “What?  You know how I can’t look down at my phone in the car without getting sick?  This is practically the same thing.”

He just snickered, and clung tight to the reins.  “How’s she doing?” he asked a few moments later, peering at the mirror.

“She’s coming up on the forest,” Rhianna said.  “When she gets in there, it might be too dark to see anything, so we have to move fast.”

“Faster then them, anyway,” they heard.  Michael and Rhianna looked between them then, to see that Peanut had joined them at the front of the sleigh, hanging over curling front of the vehicle.  “Look,” she said, pointing to the snowy horizon.

Each of them—and Zelda, too—followed that gesture, and noticed the towering giant who trudged across the icy plains.  From that distance, they could only just notice the two figures on his shoulders.

“Alright, Svetlana,” Michael said, giving the reins a light snap, “let’s beat them to the forest, okay?”

With a horse-like snort, the reindeer dipped her head and pushed ahead.  Rhianna grabbed Michael’s arm when she lurched back from the extra boost of speed.  She buried her head against his shoulder a moment later, and Michael lifted his arm to combat the rush of snow that blew forth.  Peanut dropped to the floor of the sleigh, grabbing Zelda and pulling her back when she drew too close to the edge.

“You do care!” Zelda exclaimed.

The cat narrowed her eyes.  “If you fall out, we have to stop and come back for you.  It’s too cold out here to stay any longer than we have to.”

Zelda stared for a moment, digesting the allegedly callous reason.  She subsequently ignored it and began bobbing her head from side to side.  “You like me, you like me!”

“Stop that,” Peanut groaned.

That request was granted then, for Svetlana carried them along fast and true.  As the sleigh sped on, Rurnar’s large feet showed alongside them, and the cat and the dog looked up to see the elf and the dwarf on his shoulders.

Michael handed the reins to his wife then and cupped his hands around his mouth.  “We’re going to go on ahead guys,” he yelled.  “But don’t worry, we’ll make sure we get the pendant—safely—and we’ll meet you back at the lodge!”

That explanation seemed to do less to placate the delegates, as Rurnar took longer strides and increased his pace then.

“They think we’re going to just grab our super dog and run off,” Rhianna said.

“That pendant had her burst through a giant pair of doors,” Michael replied.  “We don’t need to give Maisie any more powers than she already has.  Our house will be knocked down to the studs.”

“I’m more worried about how quick she is,” Rhianna said, her voice quavering just a bit.  “If only she could understand us.  She doesn’t like hearing us yell, and it’s all just noise to her.”

“It’s okay.  I’m sure she’s nervous out there all alone,” Michael insisted.  “She’s going to be overjoyed to see us.”

Zelda drew close to Peanut and tilted her head upward, offering up a thoughtful look.  “If Maisie gets excited and jumps up on Mommy or Daddy, will they squeak like one of our toys?”

“It’s more likely they’ll be tattered like the rug, or the couch, or the—”

“Not helping, you guys!” Michael cried.

“We have to hurry,” Rhianna pressed.  “She’s in the forest, and it’s so dark I can’t see where she is anymore.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Michael replied.  “Look,” he said, pointing with his chin.

As they barreled toward the Andal Forest, they could see the battered trees that Rurnar had knocked down during the skirmish between the elves and the dwarves.  Those felled trees had deep scratches in the bark, and the DeAngelo family knew that they were on the right track.

“Stress scratches!” Rhianna claimed.

“She definitely went this way,” Michael said.

They plunged into the forest, avoiding the uneven terrain as they went.  Svetlana was forced to slow as they weaved between standing and fallen trees alike, but she still moved as fast as she could.  When the canopy above grew dense, the husband and wife looked at one another in confusion.  The starlit sky seemed to pour between the boughs, light enough to illuminate the path forward.  They couldn’t understand why it seemed so dark around their lost pup when they scrutinized the mirror.

“That can’t be just the forest, right?” Rhianna wondered.  “We can see this clearly; why is it we can’t see her just as well?”

Michael urged Svetlana around some snow-covered rocks before peering at the mirror.  “You’re right,” he said.  “That’s way too dark.”

“We better find her soon,” they heard between them again.  Looking down, Peanut was clinging onto the front lip of the sleigh.  “Our trail is starting to disappear.”

Sure enough, the fallen trees were far sparser then, and the scratches that indicated Maisie’s path of escape seemed to fade from view.

“Even the mirror isn’t helping us enough,” Rhianna said.

“Wait a minute,” Zelda said.  She sniffed the air, tilting her head to the side.  “Svetlana, slow down!”

The reindeer instantly slowed her pace, adhering to her friend’s request.  No sooner did she slacken to a trot, and Zelda bolted from the sleigh.

“What are you doing, puppy?” Michael said, hopping from his spot and shuffling after her.

“I’d recognize that stink anywhere!” she cried.

Unable to wait there, Michael charged after her, hoping not to lose another dog in the process of Zelda following her nose.

Rhianna scooped Peanut up then as well and stepped out into the snow.  She turned to regard their reindeer guide, stroking her back a few times.  “We’ll be right back Svetlana, okay?  Maybe hide so that the others don’t see you while we’re looking for Maisie.”

The reindeer grunted, but slowly tugged the sleigh further into the woods, away from the small clearing there.

Peanut cleared her throat, then, gathering up Rhianna’s attention.  “Don’t even think about adopting another pet,” she said.

“We would need a much bigger litter box,” Rhianna considered.  “Let’s make sure we have our current family safe and sound before we think about that though, shall we?”

She trudged through the snow then, hoping that she would be able to find her way through the trees before long.  Some barking not far away helped her narrow her direction, and a few moments later, she saw rocky, mountainous terrain before her.

“This way,” Michael called out when he saw his wife wandering about the area, juggling the mirror and the cat between both her hands.

She looked over and saw her husband in his striking new outfit, standing out against the backdrop of white and grey.  He stood before a gap in the rocks, which seemed to lead into a dark and twisting tunnel.

“Zelda went inside,” he said.  “She swears that she can smell Maisie, but I can’t see past my own hand in there it’s so dark.”

“We didn’t think to bring a torch,” Rhianna said as she drew close.  “Do you think we need to go back to the lodge and get one?”

As she spoke, the way forward seemed to brighten, and they saw Zelda at the end of that illuminated path.

“Thanks!” she said.  “I’m not scared of the dark or anything, but…”

Michael and Rhianna looked at one another, trying to understand how they were able to drive away the darkness.  Peanut kicked away from Rhianna’s hold then, landing upon the cold stone floor of the tunnel entrance.  Left with just the mirror in her hand, Rhianna realized why there was a sudden glow around them.  The looking glass grew bright, giving off an otherworldly light that brightened the cave entrance.

Awash in that light, Peanut strode into the cave, passing the pup who still sniffed at the air around her.

“Hey…don’t run off,” Michael pressed.

“I’m not running anywhere,” the cat scoffed then.  “While that one blindly follows her nose, you missed an obvious sign that the one that bites and chews and scratches everything has been here.”  She looked at the side of the cavern wall, and sure enough, some deep gouges were there, thanks to the enhanced strength lent to the pup by the enchanted pendant.

“Well that’ll make things easier than looking at the darkness in the mirror,” Rhianna considered.

“Give me a minute,” Zelda said, still sniffing the area.  “I’ll find her.”

As Michael and Rhianna walked on, following Peanut with the powerful equivalent to a modern floodlight, Michael tapped Zelda on the side, gathering up her attention.  “Come on,” he said.  “We figured out where we’re going.”

“I helped!” she cried as she fell into step behind the rest of her family.

“You sure did, little puppers!” Rhianna commended.  She handed Michael the mirror then, before reaching down and plucking Zelda off the floor and snuggling her close to her chest.

With the light source in his hands, Michael looked about the area, realizing where they were.

“Do you know what this is?” he asked.  When he didn’t get a response from anyone, he pointed to the joists along the side of the walls, and to the runic inscriptions that they passed here and there.  “These are the tunnels that the dwarves built—there must be a mine down here.”

“Or this is the tunnel they were trying to carve out to find more of those rubies under the wasteland,” Rhianna speculated.

“Ooh, good thinking,” Zelda joined in.

Michael chortled at her little addition, but his face grew stern soon after.  “If that’s true, Halgrum is going to know these passageways like the back of his hand.  We need to move a little faster.”

A loud grumble echoed in the cavern, and when they looked down, they saw Peanut displaying a sourpuss.  “All her scratches are way down here, and she moves so fast they’re few and far apart.  I’m doing the best I can.”

“You’re doing great, Peanut,” Rhianna assured.  “Let’s just keep moving and do our best.  Between your eyes, Zelda’s nose, and our magic mirror, we’ll find Maisie in no time!”

They traveled on for some time, but with every new intersection in the mines, they had to stop and study the walls or sniff the air for any stray scent of their lost pup.  They went on and couldn’t ignore the chill that crept into the air, all of them beginning to shiver in the cold, damp place.

“I’m less worried that the others are going to find her before us, and more worried that she’ll freeze before anyone can!” Rhianna said.

“It’s okay,” Michael promised.  “I’m sure we’re close.”

As he spoke though, the cold became almost too much to bear.  They walked forth into a much larger chamber, and the ceiling seemed to stretch far too high.  Far above, moonlight shone into the cavern, offering the faintest light to the mine shaft below.  Illuminated as it was, the room could be seen for what it was.  Debris was scattered here and there, with large planks of wood smashed to bits, and piles of rocks and stone spread throughout the chamber.  A large blanket lay against the wall on the far side of the room—much bigger than one a human would use.

“It’s a dead end,” Peanut said.  “But…how?”

Zelda still sniffed at the air, but with all the dust that had built up in the dilapidated room, she couldn’t stifle a sneeze.  “Bleh!” she said.  “I can hardly sniff anything out anymore.  But I know she’s nearby.  She has to be!”

Without any other means to carry on the search, Michael turned the mirror over careful not to blind himself with its illumination.  As he stared into the looking glass, the light it offered seemed to settle, and his wife drew nearer to get a glimpse as well.

“I don’t understand,” Michael said.  “It’s still just showing nothing.”

Rhianna narrowed her eyes, peering into it still.  “Say something again,” she instructed.

“Did you just tell me to speak like one of the dogs?” he asked.

“Look,” Rhianna said, pointing to the mirror.

He did as he was told then, taking a closer look at the enchanted device.  Sure enough, it wasn’t as empty as he first thought.  The mirror displayed the tremendous blanket, and the sweeping motion that moved a few layers of it.  It grew brighter then, as if indicating that it wanted to be used to brighten the room once more.  Michael was happy to oblige, and as he turned it toward the discarded blanket, it was like a spotlight shone on whatever lay underneath it.

“Is that…?” he asked.

“I think it is,” Rhianna said in a much more cheerful tone.

Every time either of them spoke, the back-and-forth motion beneath the blanket grew faster.  Zelda took note of it then as well and began digging at the heavy covers.  She soon realized the futility of that, for the blanket was simply too substantial to move any which way.

“A little help here!” she cried.

Michael placed the mirror down against the wall behind them, positioning it in such a way that it would offer its light up to them.  And he made his way to the blanket, Rhianna followed alongside him.  Together, they gathered up armfuls of the covering, shifting it this way and that.  Zelda helped where she could, her anticipation growing with every swat of her paws.  Behind them, Peanut took a breather, and groomed herself.

“Keep up the good work,” the cat said.

Together the DeAngelo family moved layer after layer, until they could see a wagging tail beneath the piled-up blanket.

“Whacha doin’ in there, Maisie?” Rhianna asked.

Zelda let a little growl pass through her lips, that sounded somewhat like a disappointed grumble, and somewhat like a relieved huzzah.

That noise did little to ease Maisie’s tension though.  She began noticeably shivering, and with the strength of the pendant flowing through her, everyone there could feel the cave begin to shudder.

Michael dropped to the ground and sat next to the nervous pup, petting her back.  “We were so worried about you Maisie.  You scared us so much.”

Rhianna joined him there, and gently pulled Maisie away from her little burrow.  “I thought we talked about this,” she said in a teasing, playful voice.  “You’ve got to stop eating things.  It’s one thing to chew up the stuff in our house, but it’s another thing entirely to devour a symbol of peace that’s meant to unite three clans.”

“And you can’t just run away!” Zelda added. “You’ve got to take your lumps when you do something wrong.”

“Or just stop doing bad things,” Peanut said.  When Michael and Rhianna sent her disapproving looks, she sat up straighter.  “What?”

Maisie bowed her head in shame, her ears drooping down.  She snuck glimpses at her family, who all looked at her and spoke in a language she couldn’t understand.  The little dog licked her lips nervously, but nuzzled alternately between Michael, Rhianna and Zelda.

As everyone pet her and tried to ease her nerves, a small burp escaped her mouth.

“Umm,” Rhianna said.

Maisie’s head kept moving back and forth then, and she started making hacking sounds.  Michael slid out of the way as the pendant—covered in ick—landed on the floor of the cave.

“No, no, no,” Rhianna said as she sprang off the ground.  “This is the worst thing that’s ever happened.”

Michael couldn’t hold back a chortle, but even he blanched a bit as he picked up the pendant and wiped it on a corner of the giant blanket.  “Remind me to wash my hands when we get back to the lodge.

“Ew!” Rhianna groaned.

“Let’s say we get out of here,” Michael said.  “Why don’t you take the mirror since I’m sure you don’t want to carry this.”  He let the pendant dangle from his hand as he rose up, but as he looked at it, he saw the black and white pup still huddled up on the ground.  With a happy sigh, he stuffed the pendant in his pocket instead, and reached down to pluck Maisie off the ground.  “Actually, let’s hold onto something more important.”

“Yeah!” Zelda cheered.  “Squish her so tight she can’t possibly run off.”

Together, the five of them began their departure through the cavern.  Michael leaned down and kissed Maisie on the head, and knowing that she was safe once again, she nuzzled against his chest.

Almost as soon as cold dissipated, it returned, for they began nearing the entrance.  Not one member of the family could tell which one of them yipped as they exited the stone tunnels and saw the three delegates from the feast.

“It seems ye found the wee pipsqueak,” Halgrum said.

“You saved us the trouble, it seems,” Beroras added.

Before the giant could talk, the woman below looked up at him with more confidence than she thought she could muster.  “There’ll be no squishing here,” Rhianna said then, taking a step forward and placing her fists on her hips.

“No need for it, anyway,” Michael said.  He balanced Maisie on one arm even as she cowered away a bit, avoiding any eye contact with the noisy trio of delegates.  With his free hand, he reached into his pocket and retrieved the magic pendant.  “She was all too happy to give it up.”

Halgrum clenched his jaw and leaned back, narrowing his eyes.  “Lad, which side of that mutt did the thing come out?”

“It came out the same way it went in,” Michael revealed.  He pulled his eyebrows down into a slight frown as he looked up at Rurnar.  “I’m sorry to say though that we…we kind of used your blanket to wipe it off.”

Rhianna took another step forward and clapped her hands.  “But enough about all that.  We must get back to Santa’s lodge.  There’s a feast to be had, and he’s sure to be worried.”

“No harm, no foul, right guys?” Zelda asked.  “Except for the turkey back at the lodge.”

Peanut smacked her face with her paw.

Beroras sighed and folded his arms over his chest.  “We came here to get the pendant, and it seems you’ve already retrieved it.  It seems we traveled through the cold with the utmost haste for no reason.  And so, we begin the long trek back.”

“Well, wait a minute,” Michael said.  “I think I have a way to get us back to the lodge in no time at all.”  He turned to Zelda and pat her on the head.  “Will you do us the honor of calling over your friend?”

Her mouth curled up into a big smile while she panted in excitement.  She turned to the trees and tilted back her head.  “Svetlana!” she cried.

A moment later, the reindeer burst through the dense forest, still tugging along the sleigh.

“You think she can carry the lot of us?” Beroras asked.  “Even when Santa travels by himself, he has to line up nine reindeer.”

“Aye, but he has all them toys,” Halgrum reminded.  “Of course, they barely fit…and Rurnar is a bit bigger than that sack of goodies.”

“All he’s got to do is hold on,” Michael said with a chuckle.  He approached the furry reindeer, nudging his wife along as he went.  “Can you give me a hand?  I can’t unclasp the pendant while I’ve got this noodge here,” he said, smooching the pooch again for good measure.

Rhianna was happy to oblige, and she set the pendant in place around Svetlana’s neck.  “Now don’t get going until we’re all ready,” she told the reindeer.  “You’re going to be like a shooting star flying across the sky!”

Svetlana stamped her foot at the joke, leaving a somewhat bigger dent in the packed snow than she intended.  Rhianna just laughed and waved on her family.  She waved more enthusiastically when she tried to summon the three delegates as well.

“Alright everyone,” Michael said as they crammed into the sleigh.  “This wasn’t as disastrous as we thought—merely a hiccup and a bit of an adventure.”

“With a little bit of magic, I’m sure the feast they prepared will be just as warm as it was before we left,” Rhianna said.  “Food we can eat,” she reminded, playfully poking at Maisie.

“Alright, enough of the pleasantries,” Halgrum said.  “I’ve got a rumbling in my belly that feels like Rurnar’s taking a jog on it.”

“We’ll be back there in no time,” Michael assured.  “Now, Svetlana! Just Svetlana! Now dash away!” he cried with a light snap of the reins.  The reindeer took off at once, bolting into the snowy night.

*          *          *

Dusted free of the snow that covered them all, the delegates and Santa’s special guests were pleased to be inside the lodge once more.  Svetlana had joined them inside the building, shaking off remnants of the slush she’d kicked into the air along their return trip.  She’d earned her respite, and she happily crunched on a carrot that Cecelia held up for her, the maiden giggling with every twitch of the reindeer’s whiskers.

At the banquet table, Halgrum regaled Michael with one of the exciting tales of heroism from his clan—no doubt exaggerating with great details some aspects of the story.  At the same time though, he chomped down on a plump turkey leg, the juices dribbling down his face and getting caught up in his beard.  Every now and again, Michael could hear a word or two between his chewing—a “dragon” here and a “snow monster” there.  He nodded and smiled to the dwarf, raising his mug whenever he heard a particularly funny portion of the tale.  But his focus always drifted to the center of the table where the three fur babies chomped down on their treats.

Likewise, on the other side of the table, Rhianna half-heartedly watched while Beroras and Rurnar good-humoredly bickered back and forth, arguing about who was more integral to tracking down the runaway pup.

“If it wasn’t for the height advantage that I gave you, you would have never seen her wee tracks,” Rurnar boomed, taking a gulp from his barrel as if he had proved his point.

“I would have found them eventually,” Beroras said.  “It might have taken a little extra poking around, but I’d have found them.  Unlike you, who were too far away to see those tiny footprints.”

Rhianna laughed at their ongoing feud, and she took the moment to look to the fluffiest guests at the table.

Maisie’s eyes grew wide as she licked the plate beneath her.  Some kind of carved meat had sat there, but it was all but gone in those few moments afterward.

“Ooh try these ones,” Zelda excitedly said as she nudged another plate closer toward her sister.  “They’re orange like pumpkin, but they’re…I don’t know…starchy like potatoes.  But they’re kind of sweet too!”

Peanut stopped eating her fish just long enough to lift her gaze toward the chihuahua on the opposite side of Maisie.  She sent her an unamused stare that went unnoticed.  Unperturbed, Peanut set back to work, sinking her teeth into the large fish filet that was stretched out before her.

Everyone enjoyed that merriment, but they grew even more excited when their jolly host strolled back into the room, dangling a jeweled pendant from one of his white, unblemished gloves.

The delegates and human ambassadors broke out into applause, happy to have the ruby back in the room, cleaned up and sparkling.

“Now let’s try this again,” Santa said, though he kept the pendant close at hand, rather than placing it on the table.  “This ruby is a symbol,” he said.  “At one point, it was a symbol of disagreement, of competitiveness, and yes, even of greed.  But at some point, over the last few weeks, and even earlier today, it became a symbol of collaboration and solidarity.  It united your three clans, and you came together to bring it back, so that you could make things right about your homes.

“Of course, it didn’t quite work out the way we had hoped, because this little one was a lot quicker and stronger than anyone could have predicted,” he went on, smiling as he towered over the table and looked at Maisie.

Even though his tone was jubilant, and he was as happy as he could be, the little dog lowered her head and looked up with guilty eyes.  A little whimper escaped her lips, and she looked to Michael and Rhianna for some assurance.

None of the delegates noticed, but his human ambassadors smiled when they saw Santa snap his fingers, and they detected the presence of new magic in the feasting hall.

“What was that?” Santa asked.  “I couldn’t quite understand you before.”

Maisie gulped, and looked back at him.  “I said, ‘I’m sorry I ate the shiny thing’.”  As her words lingered in the air, it took a moment for her to realize she had spoken words that sounded different to her.  Her eyes crossed as she looked to the end of her nose.

Santa let fly a belly laugh then, winking at Rhianna and tossing a smile at Michael.

“Does this mean she’ll be able to talk every year like the others?” Rhianna asked.

“It wouldn’t seem fair otherwise,” he said.  “Now go on, I’m sure there’s much to talk about!”

Maisie still looked at her nose in confusion while Zelda squirmed onto the table and in front of her little sister.

“Maisie, you can talk!” she exclaimed.  “And more important: you can listen.  So, there’s a lot that I must teach you, and only so much time to do it.  Lesson one: How to fetch.  The key instruction here is that you have to bring the ball back.”

“That’s less important than recognizing where you’re walking,” Peanut pushed.  “Why do you always have to walk around like everyone’s black and white shadow?  One of these days I’m going to stop walking and people are going to have a hard time figuring out where I end, and you begin!”

“We can’t lose another ball, Peanut!” Zelda insisted.  “I won’t have it!”

“The last thing we need is for Little Miss Stalker to sweep the legs of one of our humans,” Peanut countered.

“Thank you, Peanut,” Michael exuberantly said.

“If they can’t get the food, we’ll starve.”

Michael’s smile faded then, and he stared at his cat with narrowed eyes.

As the feline’s latest words reached her, Maisie’s eyes grew wide with excitement.  “Food!  That’s the most important thing!”

Everyone laughed at that thought, for they all knew how dangerous her appetite could be.  With her newfound voice, Maisie was eager to talk all about her exploits over the past year.  She told taller tales than Halgrum and spoke more than Beroras and Rurnar combined.  And despite all that, her sisters were happy to talk to her.

One by one, the other delegates excitedly rose to talk to the new, talkative pup.

Beroras ran his hand down her back, and Maisie wore a contented smile.

“I’m sorry I chewed on all those trees,” she said.

The elf laughed.  “It could have been much worse!  With your powers, you could have knocked a whole lot of them over.  Truth be told, we elves always like to use a fallen tree to its fullest, and I’m glad you used them to ease your nerves.”

Halgrum was there a moment later, patting her on her head.

“I’m sorry I scratched up all those stone walls,” she apologized.

A deep chortle escaped the dwarf’s lips, as did a burp he tried to stifle with his hand.  “It’s okay there, little doggie.  It’s just a mine.  There’s no need for it to be fancy.”

When the giant approached, and towered over the table, Maisie couldn’t ignore her feelings of unease.  She gulped and looked up at him, his face so far away from her.

“I’m really, really sorry I hid in your bed, sir,” she squeaked.

Rurnar’s laugh shook the banquet room, and he shook his head as he dismissed any of her worries.  “It’s alright, very little one,” he said.  “I’m glad you found a place to sleep and settle yourself.”  He reached down and scratched her head with the very tip of his pinky, making sure to be extra careful with the small pup.

With apologies and forgiveness out in the open, the delegates and the ambassadors returned to the festivities in full.  Santa regaled his guests with stories of his own past exploits, happy to have a year where most everything was in place.  Surrounded by warmth and merriment, everyone celebrated long into the night.

*          *          *

When the DeAngelo family returned to their world, none of them could pretend in the slightest that they weren’t as exhausted as they could remember.  Michael stumbled on ahead, opening the door for everyone else.  Peanut and Zelda were eager to get inside out of the snow, and they bolted past the curtain.  Rhianna cuddled their other sleepy dog against her neck.

Maisie, with her newfound voice, had spent nearly all the rest of their time at Santa’s lodge speaking.  Once she realized who Santa was, and what he represented, she rattled off a list of things she wanted (which, though they started as small and reasonable requests, quickly became a bit greedier and more ridiculous as she went).  Santa listened to her for longer than everyone else believed he would, and all his other guests laughed whenever the pup took a deep breath to continue her demands.  It was his turn to laugh—quietly—when the dog blinked and yawned in the middle of her thoughts.  Within a few seconds, she stretched out on the floor, quietly continuing her speech.  She was blissfully unaware when Santa stepped away and prepared to say his farewells to the rest of her family.

When she was startled awake by the gasp of her older sister, she resumed her list without missing a beat.

“…and maybe another bag of pork chomps—just in case the other ones get lonely.  And then of course we need to get Zelda a bag of her own, so that I have something to steal, and…”  Maisie blinked her eyes and looked around, realizing that they were no longer at the lodge.  “Santa?”

“Don’t you worry,” Rhianna chuckled, kissing the pup on the side of the head.  “He knows exactly what you need, and you’ll get it on Christmas day.”

“But look!” Zelda shouted.  “We’ve already got some presents under the tree!”

Sure enough, several wrapped presents were there, with a huge burlap sack lying against the wall there as well.

“What did he get us this year?” Michael asked.  “Another couch?  That thing is huge.”

“Whatever he got us, I hope this year there’s no more woofing coming any of these boxes.  Or worse: meowing!”

Peanut sent a salty look toward Zelda, squaring her jaw and narrowing her eyes.  She looked up at Michael and Rhianna with a sneer.  “I, too, am done collecting little sisters for the moment.”

“What do you say?” Rhianna asked.  “Should we get to it?”

“Those presents aren’t going to open themselves!” Michael said.

Rhianna set Maisie down, and she curled up next to the other members of her family, who plucked the presents out from under the tree, and set to unwrapping them.

Michael grabbed his first and looked at the tag on top of it.  “Hey, this one is from Halgrum.”  He pulled the wrapping paper apart and removed the lid from the box within.  “A new pair of slippers!” he said.  “And look: there’s a note inside.”  He took it out and laughed before he showed it to his wife.  “Since Maisie ate my old ones,” he explained.  He leaned over and smooched the pooch before he kicked off his boots in excitement to try on his new slippers.

Zelda, too, couldn’t contain her excitement, and set to work chewing and clawing at the box with her name on it.  With a box that was bigger than her before her, she nudged the top off it, and was startled for just a moment when a card sprang up out of it, in the shape of a reindeer’s head.

“It’s from Svetlana!” she giggled, and she sprang back up to see what else was in the box.  She gasped with delight and couldn’t keep her tail from wagging.  “It’s a whole bunch of toys!” she cried, taking hold of one and plucking it out from the pile.

“No doubt because Maisie ate all your ones,” Michael said, teasing the other puppy, who started to shake off her fatigue in the presence of all the excitement.

“Ooh…look what Beroras sent me,” Rhianna said.  She pulled two beautiful midnight blue-colored velvet pillows from a box of her own.  “Because Maisie ate our old ones!”

Peanut swatted at the gift box with her name tagged upon it.  “Open this one for me, peasants,” she demanded.

Michael chortled at that stern request, but he was happy to oblige.  When he picked it up though, he could hear rattling from within.

“That’s strange,” Rhianna said.  “You know what, there is a bit of a theme with the rest of these.  And Maisie really didn’t eat anything of Peanut’s.  I wonder what it could be?”

Michael shrugged.  “It looks like this one is from Cecelia.”  He ripped the wrapping paper off the small box, and opened it up, noticing the small tube within.  When he reached inside though, he felt a rolled-up piece of parchment first and pulled that out.  “For Peanut,” he read.  “We noticed you’re losing a bit of weight, and this will make you feel better.  Take two a day.  Forever.  Love, Cecelia.”

“What?” Peanut cried.

While she dealt with that unpleasant news, Michael grabbed hold of her and set her down in his lap, squishing her in his arms.

“There’s only one present left,” Rhianna said.  “You know what that means, right?” she asked Maisie.

“Is that one…for me?” the youngest fluff asked.

“Come on, open it, open it!” Zelda cheered.  She ran behind the tree and started tugging at the mound of burlap, barely able to move it at all.  “I could really use that pendant about now!”

“I’ll help,” Michael said, handing the kitty to his wife.  He rose up and moved to the burlap sack, tugging with all his might to move it toward the center of the room.  In exhaustion, he collapsed once he arrived there.

“Whatever it is, it must be really nice!” Zelda said.

Rhianna leaned over, then, noticing the tag sticking off it.  “This one is from Rurnar, the giant,” she said.  “And there’s another little scribble on the bottom.  ‘It’s had its annual wash. -Santa’.”  She arched her eyebrows in curiosity and pulled at the twine ribbon that cinched the sack shut.  With a magical puff of smoke, all that sack disappeared, leaving the gift behind.

Maisie’s eyes grew wide as she recognized the blanket she cuddled beneath back at the North Pole.  She sprang on top of it, settling into the comfortable folds of it.  That time though, she looked around eagerly at the rest of her family.  “Come on!” she said.  “There’s plenty of room for everyone!”

Nobody could resist that invitation, nor the comfort of that massive blanket.  One by one, all the rest of her family joined her there in the warmth and coziness.

Even Peanut.

Together, the DeAngelo family cuddled next to the tree, watching the snow fall outside their window, wondering what joys the next year would bring.

Happy Holidays everyone!

If you enjoyed this story, check out the DeAngelo Christmas Archive.

The post Christmas Feast appeared first on Tellest.

The otherwise silent night at the DeAngelo household was disturbed only by the frantic jittering of a very eager Zelda, sniffing circles in the snow.  She licked the cold white snowflakes off her nose and looked around the yard, her ears on high alert, waiting for any indication that the portal would soon open. She ran to the back doors of the house, put her snow covered paws on the glass and gave a loud “woof” before running again in circles.

“I think that means hurry up humans!” said Michael as he adjusted the laces on his snow boots. As he finished tying, Peanut rubbed her body along the side of his boot, then quickly rushed to her food bowl, releasing an insistent meow.

“It’s so much easier when they can talk. It’s becoming my favorite part of Christmas,” said Rhianna as she hurried about making final preparations for their journey.

“Uh, once a year we travel to a fictional land we thought was imaginary but thanks to Christmas magic is real, and hang out with Santa, battle evil and save Christmas, and your favorite part is the talking animals?” Michael said incredulously.

She gave him a half smile in return while fastening the final button on her jacket. “Yes that’s exactly correct. I mean you do the ‘pretend’ voiceover for both of them all year. It’s nice to hear what they have to say in their own words. I always wonder what they’re thinking—this is the only time they can tell me.”

In that moment, Peanut’s chorus of “meow, meow…” stopped, and a new voice entered the conversation.

“…cease your relentless chattering. My bowl is dangerously close to empty, please address this immediately, and while you’re at it…unhand me!”

Rhianna gleefully lifted the restless cat and held her tightly in her arms.

“It’s midnight!” said Michael as he held open the back door and closed it tightly behind them.  Together, they watched the flickering light of the portal begin to emerge.

The sound of the steadily quickening wind was joined by the excitable chanting of “It’s time, it’s time, it’s time, it’s time,” by a very anxious Zelda.

Rhianna whistled for Zelda, who had an awful case of the zoomies, to join them as they watched the portal form through the snow.

“How did we do this last Christmas again?” asked Rhianna.

“Oh you know, just jumped head first into a swirling vortex of doom—the usual,” Michael replied.

Zelda was the first to jump in, followed closely by the rest of the family.

***

The world distorted into a rush of color and lights as they could feel themselves entering the distant realm. Though the journey took an instant, the breathtaking beauty of the experience filled their minds and hearts with a sense of wonder.

They felt the cold, crisp air of Tellest touch their feet as they fell through the portal. While Rhianna’s eyes shut tightly, her face buried in Peanut’s fur. Michael was the first to look out at the landscape… Or rather, down at it.

“Uh oh,” he said, as he took in their surroundings.

The portal had opened about ten feet above a straw-covered roof. Their bodies dropped like stones in a river, creating two large holes through the ceiling as they crashed into the stable. Their fall was cushioned by a large pile of hay and what they presumed—unfortunately—was reindeer manure.

“Gross!” yelled Rhianna. She stood and released Peanut at once, who had climbed her way onto her captor’s head in the last instant to avoid sullying her pristine white fur.

Zelda greeted her humans with a look of delight, with a reindeer following close behind.

“You made it! You’ve been gone forever! I made a friend!” she said, playfully patting at the reindeer’s muzzle. “And you smell…interesting,” she said while tilting her head.

Michael plucked the hay out of his hair. “What do you mean we’ve been gone forever?  We were only a few seconds behind you.”

The stable door creaked opened as a slender figure emerged. “Actually, Zelda here arrived about an hour ago,” said the young elven maiden in green tights and a red tunic. “Time works differently here, if you’ll recall.  You may not have noticed in your previous visits since you all arrived together. Come, let’s get you inside for some cookies and warm milk…and a change of clothes,” she said, suppressing a giggle.

***

As they entered the building adjoining the stable, they were greeted by a warm hearth and the soft, golden glow of candlelight. The dark wooden walls were adorned with garlands of evergreen, and the smell of spices, meats, and pine permeated the air. The DeAngelo family stood in the center of the room, not wishing to dirty any of the red velvet chairs in the room with their soiled clothes.

“First, let’s get something warm in your bellies,” she said, as she presented a large tray with silver steins of warm milk and a platter of delicious looking round cookies. Michael was the first to take a bite of the cookie, only to immediately spit it out.

“Ah, so this is the evil we’re facing this year?” he said with a look of horror.

Peanut ate the fallen cookie after a quick discerning sniff.

“Why would you do this to me on Christmas?” said Michael as he gave the elf a sad look of betrayal. Rhianna placed a comforting hand on his back.

The elven maiden looked taken aback. “Silly me, I should have let you know. We’re trying to give Santa a traditional Christmas this year. This is an ancient Nordic dessert recipe: fiskeblugen. It means crusted fish balls. It’s made of…”

“Nope, nope, don’t want to know,” said Michael.

“Why are you trying to poison our guests, Rosewyn?” a deep, booming voice echoed through the hall.  “Santa!” Zelda shouted, and she pranced over and jumped up to greet him.  He patted her with a velvet gloved hand as Peanut curled around his leather boots, rubbing her face on the silver buckle.

The elf’s cheeks turned pink with embarrassment. “I will fetch something simpler, and check on the clothes for you both. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Rosewyn paused in her tracks as Peanut yelled “Stop! Leave the fiskeblugen!”

The elf gave her a kind smile as she lowered the tray to the ground and exited the room.

While Peanut occupied herself, Zelda, Rhianna, and Michael greeted Santa.

“It’s good to see you again. I wish we were more…well, more presentable” said Rhianna, gesturing to their clothes.

Santa chuckled, “No worries my dear, you would have had to change into something else more suited to your journey this year anyway.”

“Why would we need a change of clothes?” asked Michael.

“All will be revealed when I introduce you to the wizard that will be accompanying you on your journey. We have a rather important adventure this year, though a…shall we say smaller adventure. But sometimes the smallest adventures are the most important,” he said, a hint of wisdom in his tone.

The DeAngelos stared at him blankly, waiting for a proper explanation.

“Perhaps I may be of assistance” a tiny voice said. A shadow grew large on the wall opposite the fireplace, which projected the image of large pointed hat, robes billowing, staff in hand, and a long, thin tail.  They looked in the direction of the light to greet the guest but saw no one.

“Ahem. Down here,” said the voice. Peanut hissed at the tiny figure.

“I am Raskagar, the herbalist, at your service,” he said, bowing deeply.

“A…a mouse?” asked Zelda. “I have a you at home. Do you squeak too?”

The mouse let out an angry harrumph. “I am not a mouse, I’m a man! A curmudgeonly old man and powerful wizard! And I most certainly do not squeak!” he said, in a small squeaky voice.

“Um, excuse me” said Zelda. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I have the biggest ears in the room and I can’t hear you.”

Raskagar gave Santa a pleading look, and then switched his nose in a pointed sniff toward the elf entering the door.

***

Rosewyn returned with a small assortment of cheeses, two hot cocoas, two small water bowls, and what appeared to be a plate of proper chocolate chip cookies.  Michael grinned from ear to ear.

“Come, join me by the fireside. And let’s make conversing with your journey guide a bit easier, shall we?” said Santa, pulling a vial of swirling purple liquid from his pocket. He passed the vial to Rosewyn, who set the tray down and placed a single drop of liquid in each drink. She placed the water bowls in front of Zelda and Peanut, who eagerly bound over to quench their thirst.

“Wait! What exactly are you giving us?” asked Rhianna, halting the animals.

Santa chuckled with a glint of mischief in his eyes. “It’s more fun if I don’t tell you, but I expect you will guess easily enough when you see your new dressings. Rosewyn, are the garments prepared?”

“Indeed they are!” she replied, as she gleefully held out the palm of her hand, revealing an assortment of tiny costumes that appeared to be meant for toys.

“You…you’re shrinking us?” asked Michael.

“Is that even safe?” asked Rhianna, wary of the thought of unknown potion.

“Ahem,” Raskagar cleared his throat, shouting in his tiny voice so all could hear. “Shrinking magic is my personal specialty. How on earth do you think Santa fits all those toys in his sleigh? Hmm?”

Michael and Rhianna locked eyes, and gave one another a shrug of understanding before each taking a cup of cocoa from the tray. “To Christmas,” they said in unison as they gulped down the warm beverage. Zelda hastily lapped up her drink, but Peanut hesitated.

“Is this not to your liking?” asked Rosewyn.

“I prefer milk, warmed for exactly thirty six seconds” said the cat. “But I suppose this will do for now.”

“I don’t feel any different,” said Michael, as he bit into a cookie. The cookie suddenly became impossibly heavy, and the world suddenly rushed upward. Rhianna and Michael found themselves buried, naked under a sea of their clothes.

“You didn’t warn us about the clothes!” yelled Rhianna from under the folds of fabric.

“Oh I’m sorry, I should have mentioned that before” said Rosewyn. She passed the small costume through a hole in the sleeve so she could change, and did the same for Michael.

“I’ll prepare Zelda and Peanut while you dress yourselves” said the elf in a cheery voice.

They readied themselves, attempting to ignore the smell of their previous clothes.

***

“I don’t understand my costume” said Zelda, eyeing the small gold winder key attached to her back, spinning in circles as she attempted to investigate the curious object.

Peanut seemed mildly happy with her patchwork design, with makeshift stitches attached to the outer corners of her calico markings. “A simple disguise, though it appears as if I were crafted by peasants.”

Rhianna adjusted the green gown of her doll costume while Michael, dressed as a toy soldier, fiddled with the gold buttons on his top.

“Ok, where are we going and who are we fighting?” Asked Michael, brandishing the slim metal sword attached to his belt.

“We are fighting the greatest enemy of all…disloyalty!” said Raskagar in a much deeper tone now that they were all similar statures. His determined expression wavered as he looked at the four confused faces before him.

“We are running out of time, Raskagar” said a booming voice from above that caused the group of adventurers to jump.  Santa, as tall as a building, loomed over impatiently.

The mouse looked un-phased, and began his tale.

“As I was saying, about a week ago, my apprentice and I had a disagreement. I dabble in various experiments from time to time, in all areas of alchemy and herbology, and I enjoy making new potions and elixirs…all manner of cures and conjuring. My creations are intended to push the boundaries of our understanding of what’s ‘possible.’ I had intended only to create a potion of inspiration, a simple cure for when one feels unmotivated for creative pursuits. However, my fool apprentice added the mugwort before the powered dragon’s liver! You can imagine what happened next!” Raskagar shook his head as he recalled the incident and scratched the fur behind his ears in frustration.

“So that’s what turned you into a mouse…” said Rhianna with an understanding nod.

“Don’t be ridiculous” said the wizard, twitching his whiskers. “That’s when the spoon began to talk!”

Zelda’s head tilted as far sideways as it would bend.

“The potion of inspiration became a potion of animation! That spoon was Barnabus’s favorite implement in the arcanium. He would often talk to it, rather than talking to himself, whenever he was tasked with keeping a concoction stirred. You can imagine after stir number six-thousand-seven-hundred-and-four of any standard healing elixir on any given night, he would want a companion to speak with.”

“What did the spoon say?” asked Zelda excitedly.

“It mostly complained about work,” said Raskagar nonchalantly.

“I discovered the next morning that something was dreadfully amiss. Barnabus was nowhere to be found, and most of my potions ingredients were gone. He had bottled the whole cauldron and snuck away in the night. I knew he intended to recreate the potion and needed to be stopped. I would have never known had that disgruntled spoon not informed me of his treachery.”

“Can you get to the point?” asked Peanut impatiently.

“Peanut! That was rude.” scolded Michael.

Peanut’s ears lowered, but her eyes looked pleadingly at her human. “I’m sorry but I want to eat him.”

Raskagar let out a chuckle and looked fondly at the dismayed feline.

“It’s alright my dear one. When I am human again, I promise I shall ignore you thoroughly.”

Peanut’s ears perked up at the offer. “That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

Raskagar let out one more “ahem” before resuming his story.

“When I discovered him, he was standing over a cauldron where it was clear he was attempting to recreate the mixture, but in a much larger quantity.  I first scolded him for his insolence and demand he had over the stolen potion, which I could see hung in a glass vile around his neck. When he refused to listen, I then attempted to take it by force. But the scoundrel shoved me into the ingredients shelf in a rage. The cauldron toppled and some bottles fell during the scuffle… well, I can assume our current states are the result of an unfortunate mix of transfiguration potion, some pest repellent, and olive oil. Though the one bright spot on this dark tale is my fur is quite silky.”

“Our? You mean you both transformed into mice?” asked Rhianna.

“I became a mouse, and fitting that the traitor became a big fat rat! As soon as I fought my way out of the sleeve of my robes, I saw the rat escaping out a window, dragging the vial behind him as he fled.”

Michael stepped forward.

“This is a lot of exposition, what exactly is our mission here?”

“Why, to stop the rat from ruining Christmas of course!” said Raskagar.

Santa’s booming voice interjected. “In short, Barnabus has somehow managed to disperse the stolen potion to all the toys we crafted this year. What’s worse, he has commandeered the workshop and commanded the legion of toys to prevent my elves and I from entering. Were we to reclaim it by force, and return the toys to their proper state with the antiserum Raskagar concocted, we may harm the toys in the process.  I would not risk ruining even a single child’s Christmas, and I cannot possibly deliver toys that are, shall we say alive, to the Children of the world.”

Michael nodded and once again brandished the sword. “So the plan is we infiltrate the workshop, masquerade as toys under the Rat’s command, and when we take down their leader, we’ll order the toy legion to…”

“Will you stop with the stabbing gesticulations? We are trying to reason with the imbecile!” shouted Raskagar, straightening the brim of his small pointed hat. “Come, we need to get into the workshop through the ancient secret tunnels…” Raskagar went on, pointing his staff toward what appeared to be a small crack in the wooden masonry.

“…That is a hole in the wall” said Rhianna.

“Astute observation, madam. I was adding dramatic flair,” replied the mouse.

“What if there are spiders?” she asked, mildly panicked at the thought of entering the dusty space.

Michael put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sure there aren’t many spiders at the North Pole, and if there were, they would be magical Christmas spiders that just want to give you four hugs.”

She let out an exasperated sigh as he hugged her tightly in demonstration.

Santa chuckled above them.

“You will need this to get out,” said Santa, reaching down with a small golden key and handing it to Rhianna’s outstretched hands.

”The key to my workshop will come in handy when the shrinking potion eventually loses its potency. Now hurry, we only have an hour before I need to depart if I’m going to make my deliveries in time for Christmas morning.”

***

Raskagar led the way through the dusty wooden crevice, illuminating their path with the glowing tip of the staff held in his paw. He muttered an incantation to dim the light as soon as the glow from the workshop became visible through the cobwebs in their path. The group attempted to avoid the sheer obstacles, but pieces still clung to their clothes and fur. Rhianna shivered with anxiety and rushed to the narrow opening in the wall. She emerged into a room bathed in the glow of dozens of silver lanterns. Shelves of deep mahogany wood lined with white lace covered every inch of the walls. On the shelves were hundreds of porcelain dolls of every shape and size. Each wore a unique dress, in every variety of fabric and color imaginable with intricately embroidered patterns. Under the shelves and along the walls were crafting tables, some covered in buttons and ribbons, and others with tiny brushes and small containers of paint.

“The porcelain room,” whispered Raskagar from behind, as the rest of the group emerged. “We have entered the most delicate room in Santa’s workshop. I need not tell you why it is absolutely imperative we all remain as silent as—”

Zelda interrupted with a loud sneeze that caused her to ears to flap loudly as her head shook.

The group eyed her incredulously.

“It was dusty in there!” whined Zelda.

Michael gave her a slight smile and bent to pet her behind the ears, but his hand slowed as he noticed the heads of every doll lining the shelves slowing turned in their direction. Some blinked, while some unfinished ones stared blankly with unpainted eyes. The fur on peanut’s back instinctively rose.

“That’s not creepy at all,” said Peanut

“What do we do now?” asked Rhianna, slowly backing away.  Raskagar put a paw on her shoulder. “My dear, you’re meant to be one of them, remember?” he said, nudging her forward.

“How am I supposed to do that?” she asked in a frustrated whisper.

“Everyone knows dolls are notoriously critical. Just select one to scrutinize and the others shall follow suit.  We can sneak away while they’re distracted.”

Rhianna stepped forward, knocking the dust off her sleeves and smoothing down the material of her green dress. She selected a curly blond-haired doll in the corner with an elaborate up-do and a painfully ruffled pink gown. She eyed it up and down and shook her head in disapproved. Slowly, the others joined, and all eyes were on the new target.

“That was too simple,” said Rhianna

“I told you madam: it’s the most fragile room in Santa’s workshop. That includes their egos. Come, let’s get out of here before your ruffle-clad friend turns their attention back on you.

***

The next room was adorned with garlands, with iron lanterns on large oak tables. Boxes and wooden crates in neat piles covered the floors. From the ceiling hung carefully painted hot air balloons and various carvings of birds in flight. The shelves along the walls were home to a menagerie of painted wooden animals of all species imaginable. A row of rocking horses and dollhouses towered over the group as they stepped further into the wooden room.

“Look!” said Zelda, bounding over to a small box nearby, walled with winding keys like the one strapped to her back.  As she approached, a small shadow scurried away and attempted to hide behind a dollhouse. Zelda chased after it. “Come back!” she cried, “I’m nice! Let’s be friends!” She gave an investigative sniff as she approached the house. The small head of a little yellow duck peeked its way around the corner. Its wooden feet made a faint tapping sound as it waddled forward, its winding key spinning in the effort.  As the duck approached, Zelda gave it an affectionate boop on its orange-painted bill.

“Perhaps your friend here is the only one in this room affected by the potion,” said Raskagar as he observed the toys surrounding them. The moment he uttered the words, the rocking horses began a slow back and forth dance, creaking the floorboards as they reared.  The animal figures on the shelves stamped their hooves, flapped their wings, or opened their jaws as they inspected the intruders.

The carved creatures appeared ready to leap from their shelves. The little wooden duck waddled forward between Zelda and the encroaching stampede, quickly winding her key in a tight spin which stopped suddenly with a resounding “pop.” The duck’s feet raised about two inches from the ground with one small jump, and then it flopped back in place on the floor.  The wooden creatures stopped in their tracks, but whether they halted in fear or bewilderment was left to the imagination.

“Apparently that brilliant display of dominance was enough for us to gain safe passage! Make haste, our time is running short.” Raskagar quickened his pace.

Zelda nudged her new yellow friend, who followed by her side with the quick pitter patter sounds of her wooden flippers on the floor.

‘”How is it that Barnabus could have distributed the potion to so many toys? He barely had enough for a few, let alone an army,” the mouse pondered as they entered the archway into the next room. “It would have been impossible to distribute the potion individually. He must be doing it all at once somehow.”

“If that were the case, then wouldn’t everything be moving? The tables, the chairs, the… scissors,” said Michael.

Raskagar pondered the statement. “I do not believe so. A potion of animation would target any object where there exists an assignment of expectation for reciprocated affections.”

Zelda stopped bounding around her duck friend long enough to tilt her head sideways at Raskagar’s comment.

“In other words,” said the wizard, “it’s a matter of wanting something to care for you in return. A child would want a stuffed bear to return its affections, but would not likely feel the same for a fork.”

Michael halted in his tracks. “Hold on, you said Barnabus’s spoon was talking after he stirred the potion.”

“I did indeed, but I also said he often spoke to that spoon, having no one else to talk to on long nights.”

“So that’s why certain toys are “alive” but other’s aren’t?” asked Rhianna. “Why the dolls moved, but not the dollhouses?”

“Indeed” said the wizard. “You wouldn’t expect your own house to start moving about on its own now would you? We have more pressing priorities at hand, and at this rate, we will never find him in time. We need a way to get through the rooms with more ease.”

Peanut let out a small cough.

“Something to speed up the journey…”

Peanut swatted the mouse’s robe with her paw.

“A quicker means of transportation.”

“The train!” hollered Peanut, causing Raskagar to jump.

***

From the far side of a lavishly-decorated room stood the most impressive Christmas tree the DeAngelo family had ever seen. Its beauty was magnified by their small stature, since they stood no taller that the ornaments adorning its branches. The walls of the mahogany room reflected the radiance of the twinkling, fluttering lights that encircled the tree—like fireflies but more vibrant in their hues.  “Lumibugs,” said Michael with a fond smile.

Encircling the base of the enormous tree was an elaborate toy village so perfect in detail that the small group might, for a moment, have imagined themselves full-sized again. On the outskirts of the village sat a small set of railroad tracks atop a smattering of artificial snow. The tracks ran from one side of the room to the next, with small archways just high enough for the train to pass from room to room. A far-off echo of a train whistle reverberated through the walls.

“I’ve never been on a train before!” piped Zelda excitedly as she bound toward the tracks, the waddling wooden duck trailing behind.

As she neared the tracks, the sound of footsteps could be heard approaching from behind the tree. An army of wooden soldiers emerged from there, marching in two neat lines. The ba-rum bum bum of their drum beats matched the pace of their footsteps as they blocked the path between Zelda and the tree.

“I’ll handle this,” said Peanut, noticing the slight shiver of Zelda’s tail as she stood bravely in the face of the army.

Peanut gave her loudest warning hiss in their general direction. They drew their swords.

“You handle this,” said Peanut as she fled and turned about behind Michael.

Raskagar gave him a pat on the back. “Not to worry. These fellows are all the same. Just distract them long enough for the train to arrive, and then we can all jump on and be on our way to find that rat.

“I have an idea,” said Michael. He marched forward to their same drum beat, then drew the sword from the scabbard at his hip and held it in the same position as the soldiers held their own weapons. Then, he sheathed the sword. The army mirrored his action. Michael saluted the wooded solders, and sure enough they all returned the gesture.  “This is creepy, but I like it,” said Michael, bemused by the situation.

From the hole in the wall they could see the soft billowing of white smoke from the stack of the train.

“Quickly!” said Raskagar, ushering the group to the far left of the room. Michael followed them, but in a backward run so the army of soldiers would continue looking in the other direction.

The train was intricately crafted, with black, gold, and red designs along every gear and wheel. Rhianna picked up Peanut as they broke into a run, and tightly clutched the gold key she had thus far been using as a walking staff.

Zelda hoisted her duck friend onto the small train platform with a gentle nudge under the wooden tail feathers before jumping on herself.

Raskagar and Michael were the last to jump on the caboose, and just as Michael’s attention turned to the train, the army of soldiers all at once turned around, drew their swords, and charged them at a full run. Luckily for the group of travelers, the hundreds of soldiers did not have sense enough to funnel their way through the narrow opening without a leader, and instead crashed into the wall.

“Ooh, that sounded bad. I hope they didn’t get damaged. Santa said every single toy needs to go to the child it was made for” said Michael.

Zelda looked him sadly. “But not all of them, right? Maybe we can keep just one?” She gave the little duck at her side a soft pat with her paw.

“I don’t think so Zelda, I think this one was made for some special child in the world that needs a little friend,” said Rhianna.

Zelda’s ears drooped.

“Maybe Santa will have a special stuffed toy just for you when we get back,” said Michael, just as the train billowed past a carpeted room filled with stuffed creatures and patchwork toys of every color and texture imaginable.

“I suppose it’s my turn to face off against our next challenge?” asked Peanut with her head held high.

Raskagar chuckled lightly. “No, let’s not stop here. These stuffed ones tend to be a bit…full of themselves.”

He ignored Peanut’s scowl and addressed Zelda, whose head was resting on the duck’s wing.

“Friends aren’t all you expect. They can betray you in an instant! That rat I considered a friend as well as an apprentice. And this is how he repays my generosity! He will get what he deserves. Every action has a price.” The mouse’s face was suddenly bathed in an angry red glow as they entered the next room.

The group could see two velvet chairs facing one another in front of a large fireplace with crackling flames. The mantel was filled end to end with a variety of board games and playing cards. Some were familiar, but others must have been meant only for the children of Tellest, with silver and gold symbols and lettering that exuded an air of magic. Nestled between the chairs, and glowing from the fire blazing behind it, a small glass table supporting an intricately carved chessboard sat. A figure emerged behind one of the stone castles atop the board, and a shadow moved across the ceiling, depicting a massive black rat with outstretched claws.

***

Peanut’s fur stood on end at the sight of the rat. Rhianna put a hand on her back to calm her as Michael whispered to Raskagar. “Were we supposed to be sneaking up on him? Because I’m pretty sure he saw us.”

Raskagar stood atop the toy train, and batted aside the puffs of white smoke blowing in his face as the engine chugged along.

“This is no time for subtlety lad. Santa will need to depart at a moment’s notice.” He held his staff high in the air with both hands and shouted an incantation in a language they had never heard. “Apfrit te amba iflict nicht et um bret elooris altu mat enofin vepa tevik sha letera!”

When he tapped the staff to the train, the train came to a halt.

“Wow, what did that mean?” asked Zelda, amazed at the display of magic.

“That is an ancient language, long forgotten in this world. It’s difficult to translate, but I’ll give it a go. It means “stop.”

“So that’s why it’s long forgotten,” said Peanut dryly.

The group abandoned the train and headed for the glass table to meet their foe.  Raskagar began chanting a levitation spell that resembled the language he had spoken on the train. As they drifted upwards toward the board, Michael readied his sword. Rhianna clutched the gilded workshop key to her chest, and Zelda did little tumbles in the air, enjoying the sense of floating upward.

As soon as their feet touched the board, the pieces took immediate notice to the intrusion. A voice behind them yelled “charge!” as the pawns moved forward. The stone figures were flanked by the black and white knights atop their horses, whose thundering hooves shook the board as they closed the distance between them. Zelda stepped forward in a defensive stance, the little wind up gear on her back shivering slightly with the rest of her body as she prepared for the battle at hand.

Suddenly Peanut ran forward, and in a calm, nonchalant voice said the words “apfrit te amba iflict nicht et um bret elooris altu mat enofin vepa tevik sha letera.” The pieces halted in an instant.

Zelda’s eyes widened. “Are you a wizard now?” she asked the feline.

“I prefer sorceress. And yes,” said Peanut.

Raskagar stepped around the two animals and approached the large rat, who had adorned himself in doll clothes fit for a king.

“Barnabus, come out from behind that castle this instant. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

The rat hissed angrily as it crouched lower behind the stone chess piece, his sharp black claws menacingly scraping the sides. “No,” said the Rat.

“Barnabus, do not test me” said Raskagar.

“You can’t see me” said Barnabus.

The mouse sighed in annoyance. “You are right there. You are a huge, hairy beast who is getting a talking to.”

“But I’m not here.”

“I can see you, you’re right there.”

“No I’m not,” said Barnabus.

“You are!”

“Am not!”

Michael leaned over to Rhianna, whose face bore the same perplexed expression.

“What is happening?” he asked his equally confused wife.

“I don’t know, but this is the most bizarre encounter we’ve ever had. And we’ve fought penguins,” she said.

“Barnabus you get over here right now and apologize for what you’ve done.”

The giant rat, with his shoulders hunched and head hung low, slowly approached the mouse.

“I’m sorry Uncle Raskagar.”

“Sorry for what?”

“For stealing the potion and almost ruining Christmas and making us tiny and…I’m just sorry,” he said with a small sniffle of regret.

“Hold on, your nephew is your apprentice? You described him as your friend,” said Michael.

“Yes, well that’s nepotism for you,” said Raskagar casually.

Michael shook his head. “No, I mean, the way you described him I was expecting…well, someone older. You did say he’s going to get what he deserves, that there’s a price to pay…”

“Ah yes, the price must be paid for your betrayal!” Raskagar boomed as he turned toward Barnabus and wagged a disapproving figure at him. “No cookies for you this Christmas!”

The boy gasped in horror at the declaration and began yelling in outrage.

“I know I messed up. But I was lonely! You’re gone all the time, and I’m all alone stirring potions with nothing but a spoon to play with!”

“It builds character!” shouted Raskagar.” Besides, I always come back! Am I not entertainment enough?!”

“It’s not the same! You’re old!” yelled the boy in a rat’s body.

“Preposterous! And besides, you don’t have time for playing. You’ll soon be graduating from potion-stirring to spell-crafting.”

“I…I am? Wait, you still want me to be your apprentice?” yelled the boy.

“Of course!”

“Then why are we yelling?”

“Because it’s Christmas and we’re family! It’s what people do!” shouted the mouse.

Both rodents chuckled softly, as Raskagar gave Barnabus a comforting pat on the back.

“By the way, how did you manage to awaken all these toys at once?” asked the wizard.

“I used the smoke,” he said, and pointed to the train, still motionless on the tracks.

“Clever boy! But come, let’s put in the antiserum in the smokestack and undo this magic the same way it was done, shall we?”

“I’ll do it. This was all my fault. Besides, I want to say goodbye to my friends,” Barnabus said, a wistful look in his eyes. Raskagar handed him the antiserum and gave him an approving nod.

“He’s going to change them all back?” cried Zelda, nuzzling the little duck at her side.

“Don’t worry little one. Trust someone who understands the laws of magic. No matter how much we want certain things to be, all things return to their natural state. I can turn leaves to gold in an instant, but they will still be worthless. I will soon turn back into an old man, as I am not meant to be a mouse.  I am sure of this because my constant craving for cheese is slowly abetting. But I can tell you this: I will return to my natural state with a new appreciation for the little things.”

***

The train departed, with a tint of purple smoke billowing gently through the air as the serum began to disperse.  The chess pieces returned to their positions on their respective side of the board. Everything grew silent.

“I think it’s time we go,” said Rhianna, as she suddenly felt her body rumble with the familiar sensation of magic. Raskagar muttered an incantation that levitated the family from the glass table to the floor below. As soon as their feet touched the ground, they sprung up to their full height in one swift motion.

Thankfully for the humans in the group, the clothes magically grew with them. The animals shook their fur free of any remnants of their disguises, and committed themselves to the joys of stretching after feeling compressed in their smaller bodies.

The mouse wizard and the wind-up duck looked up at them from the chessboard.

“Are you coming with us?” asked Michael, looking down at Raskagar.

“I’ll be along in a moment. I feel as though I too shall change back soon, but first I’ll escort this little one back home!” he shouted, with a barely-audible squeak.

Rhianna reached for the workshop key that had fallen during her transformation to full height and ushered the rest of her family toward the exit.

As they unlocked the workshop door, Rosewyn let out a loud cheer. “They worked! They really worked,” she cried with a small dance. “What worked?”  Michael asked.

“The clothes, of course! That’s why they took so long to prepare. I made them with an enchanted fabric so they would grow when you did.”

“Ha!” said a deep male voice behind them. “How embarrassing to have saved all of Christmas only to celebrate in the nude!”

Rosewyn let out a shy gasp before covering her eyes with one hand and placing the other over her mouth to stifle the laughter.

There, standing in the doorway was the wizard Raskagar in human form. He was a tall and gangly old man, standing with his hands on his hips, with a white beard on his sharp jaw that stretched far enough below his navel to offer a semblance of modesty.

The elf maiden composed herself long enough to fetch a blanket from Santa’s chair and offered it to the bare wizard.

“No, I shan’t my dear. Though my nephew may have use for it in a moment. The cool air feels wonderful after spending all that time covered in fur! I think I shall take a walk. Lovely to meet you all!” he said. He gave them a low bow before walking out into the snowy night.

***

The DeAngelo family watched the portal close behind them as they returned to the back yard of their home.  The moon shone so brightly, they thought, for a moment, that Christmas morning had already come.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get to say goodbye to Santa,” said Michael, brushing some snow off his red soldier uniform.

Rhianna picked the hem of her dress up and away from the snow. “Rosewyne said he left in a hurry as soon as the door to the workshop opened. At least children around the world will have toys on Christmas. And we got to keep these outfits.”

“They’ll certainly come in handy during convention season,” said Michael, reaching an arm over his wife’s shoulder. She hugged him around the waist, and then noticed the silence around them. She looked for the animals to ensure they had followed through the portal.

Peanut was sitting impatiently by the door, staring at the handle as if willing it to open. She muttered to herself through a clenched jaw “should have asked that confounded mouse for more spells.”

Zelda lay in the snow with her head down, sniffing at the place where the portal had vanished.

“What’s wrong puppy?” asked Michael, bending down to stroke her fur.

Zelda let out a sigh. “I understand Barnabus. He was just sad being alone all day. My favorite part about going to Tellest is making new friends. My least favorite part is saying goodbye.” She nuzzled her head somberly against Michael’s hand.

“Don’t be sad. It’s Christmas!” said Rhianna. “We still have a few hours of magic left.  Let us know what you want. What would make you the happiest?”

Peanut suddenly backed away from the doors with her ears pointed upward in high alert. “Something’s different” she said. Zelda sniffed the air and perked her ears forward toward the house.

“She’s right… There’s a…a something, moving around in the house.”

Michael took a protective stance in front of his family as he opened to doors to their home. Sitting under the Christmas tree was a box wrapped in silver paper, with a large purple ribbon on top.

“Santa must have made our house one of his first stops,” said Rhianna, as she approached the gift.

On the end of the ribbon was a small note that read:

For the DeAngelo family. May this be a reminder that little things can lead to big adventures.

Zelda and Peanut both approached the box, sniffing circles around the small gap in the lid.

The box shook and they jumped backward. From within, they heard a small woof.

Rhianna and Michael both gasped in delight. Zelda’s eyes widened as she saw a tiny black nose pop out from the small gap in the lid. The little nose sniffed the air as Zelda brought her face closer to inspect the new member of the family. Zelda looked up at her humans with eyes glistening in happiness. “Santa really brought me a friend for Christmas,” she said with a small whine of excitement.

Michael hurried over to undo the ribbon so they could greet the puppy.

“Peanut, can you believe it? We have another puppy!” said Rhianna with joy.

And as her humans opened the lid, and Peanut was whipped in the face by the eager wagging of Zelda’s bushy tail, only one phrase came to mind: “I’m doomed.”

Happy holidays to everyone!

The post Little Christmas appeared first on Tellest.

Once upon a time, many days and nights ago, a loving family visited a land of ice and powdered snow.  Though they didn’t know the details—the whys and whens and wheres—there was one thing they knew for certain: a Christmas wish had brought them there.  Their time spent there was filled with merriment and cheer, and the man who summoned them could not wait to see them that next year.  As the weeks and months flew by, they tried to quiet their anticipation.  This didn’t work of course, and as the holidays drew near, they knew it was time for a celebration.  You’re invited, too, friends and family, to join us on this quest—to visit Santa, his wife, the elves and even all the rest.  So sit back, relax, get cozy, and prepare for a tale of endless elation.  Get ready to visit a land of magic and make-believe, and pure imagination.

Blind to the steps below him, he ventured forward with the utmost caution, seeking solid ground with his foot as though he was on the edge of a hazardous cliff.  He could hear the frantic pacing of the petite, brown dog behind him, eager to follow him wherever he went—but there was no making sense of being on the stairs at the same time.

“We should have got a real Christmas tree this year,” his beloved insisted from firmer, flatter ground to his side.  “We say we’re going to do it every year.”

“And every year I have to remind you that with your allergies, it would never work,” he teased.  “You say we’re going to do it every year, and then you relent because I’m always right.”

“Yes, and I hate that about you,” she agreed.

He arrived on the floor then, and set the potted tree down before sidling out into the living room proper.  Free of his burden, he noticed the peculiar object in the auburn-haired beauty’s hands.

“What is that?” he grumbled, though he already knew the truth.

“Custom made!” she cried, holding the ornament ever closer.  The small dire penguin stared at the man with beady red eyes, and fangs protruded past the inanimate creature’s beak.  “Can you believe it’s almost been a year since all that happened?”

Michael shrugged.  “It feels like a dream, doesn’t it?  Nobody believes it happened besides us.  They think we just sent out bookmarks for funsies.”

“Oh, none of that matters,” Rhianna said.  “We know what happened.”  The woman moved the tree into place in that room, and hung the penguin in place.  “We saved Christmas for Santa last year.  I think that’s a pretty big deal!”

“I just remember almost being a snack for those things,” Michael replied.  “That was the kind of harrowing experience I wasn’t expecting earlier that day!”

“Are you saying you wouldn’t do it all over again?”

An impish grin was on Michael’s face the next moment.  “I didn’t say that,” he said.

“Well that’s good.  It’s getting to be that time of year again,” she replied.

“You think we’re going to have another adventure?”

The beautiful woman tapped on the penguin ornament and watched it bobble in its position on the tree.  “He said he wanted to see us again.”  She snapped her fingers, and ran over to their china cabinet, and sorted through piles of junk, scraps of paper, and a plethora of envelopes before she found what she was looking for.  “Aha!  And I quote: ‘It was so nice having the four of you here for a visit.  I couldn’t have done so well last night if it wasn’t for the help of the DeAngelo family.  Merry Christmas and Happy Wintertide!  I can’t wait to see you again next year!’”

The man turned to her with an arched eyebrow.  “You mean to tell me that you can’t find one thing in this house—ever—but you had the location of that card memorized?”

“Not exactly,” she said with a smile as she dug through the collection in that drawer again.  She plucked out another pair of objects, and pulled them onto her hands.  “I remembered where these were.  How am I supposed to forget a gift from Santa?”  She rubbed her hands together, the archery gloves warm and cozy.  “Speaking of which, where did you put your present from Santa?”

He winked at her, and pulled up one of his pant legs.  “Already wearing them,” he said.

“Oh?” she said.  “You haven’t been wearing them every day this month, have you?”

Michael snickered.  “Ew, no!  It’s the 23^rd.  It’s exactly one year from when we made our trip.”

“So you do think we’re going to go back!”

“Wishes do come true,” he said.  “The three of you got exactly what you asked for last year: You wished for our animals to be able to talk, and they were yappy as you can believe; Zelda wanted to fly, and she took us for a whirlwind tour in an icy canyon; even Peanut got her wish.”

“Thanks to Santa letting her call it in a few hours later,” Rhianna reminded.

“A big juicy bird,” Michael recalled.  “I’m kind of glad it wasn’t one of those penguins.  They looked like they’d be a bit tough.”

A bright smile appeared on the redhead’s face.  “The Christmas turkey was appreciated well enough!”

“That’s right.  So you all got your wishes,” the man said then.  “I was just smart enough to make a perpetual wish.  Every year—that’s what I said!”

“It’s true, I remember it!” a reply from a voice they hadn’t heard for an entire year piped up.

The married couple looked at one another before passing a glance at their adorable little dog.

“Zelda, you’re talking again!” Rhianna said.

“I know!” she exclaimed.  “And I would have had more to say earlier if you two would ever let me get a word in!”

“Wait a minute,” Michael said.  “Does that mean Peanut can talk again too?”

All three of them looked to the lazy feline, cuddled up in her bed.  A trio of inquisitive stares landed on the cat, who gazed back with a perturbed visage.  “No,” she finally replied.

“It’s happening!” Rhianna exclaimed.  She ran through the kitchen, looking out the back door of the house.

Michael was quick to follow her, though when he arrived there, he noticed the sour expression on her face.  “What’s the matter?” he asked.

She shrugged.  “There’s no snow like last year.  How are we supposed to get a portal to Tellest without any snow?”

“I’m not sure that’s how it works,” he teased.

Just then, however, they heard a knocking at the front door of the house.

“A roo roo roo roo!” Zelda cried.  She tilted her head to the side, then.  “Is that how I always sound?” she wondered.

The man walked past the confused pup, patting her on the head as he went.  He opened the front door, and noticed the small parcel on the front step.  “It’s kind of early for mail,” Michael said.  “What could that be?”  He swung the screen door open and plucked the item up, bringing it inside and shutting the way behind him.  “Whatever it is, it’s light.  What did you order off Amazon now?”

“That’s not from Amazon,” Rhianna said.  “Look at the side.”

Her husband turned the parcel until he could see the label affixed to it.  He grinned when he saw the address on the return label, in colorful lettering.  “Santa’s Workshop,” he read aloud.

“Open it, open it, open it!” Zelda demanded.

He did as commanded, prying open the cardboard box and spotting the contents within.  A round, silver object was there, polished so well that he could nearly see his reflection in it.  A clicking sound echoed out from there without the box lid there to muffle it.

“What is that?” Rhianna asked.

Michael pulled it free of its container, and held it out in front of him.  “It’s a clock.  That’s strange.”  He alternated glances at it, and the digital clock that always displayed in their entertainment center.  “But hey, at least it’s showing the right time.  Look: almost five o’clock.”

As he said that, the delivered item ticked one last time, sending the big hand straight over the twelve.  A loud bell tolled, frightening everyone in that room.  Zelda ran into the corner of the room, sitting beside the nonplussed puss, Rhianna jumped and grabbed her chest and Michael released his hold on the clock.

But that timepiece wasn’t let to fall, no.  It hovered in the air where it had been dropped, shaking as the gears and components continued to move.  To his surprise, Michael noticed that the clock’s hands spun backward, and they were gaining speed.

“What is going on?” his wife asked.

Before he could answer, the face of the clock broke away, sucked into the device only to disappear.  In its place, a bright light shone out, blinding the man who once held the object.  He brought his arm up to shield his eyes, and that light seemed to dim.  It was only then, when he thought to venture another glance that he saw another land displayed in the far reaches of that timepiece.

“Huh.  You know that snow you were hoping to see?” he asked his wife.  “Well it is right in—”

Before he could finish the sentence, the clock tolled again.  Michael existed in that room for only another instant, and then he was sucked into that beacon, his words left to hang in the room.

“Michael!” Rhianna cried.

Almost as if responding to her yelp, the clock, still hovering in the air, spun about and faced the woman.  Her eyes grew wide and she silenced herself, only a single gasp escaping from her lips then.  She saw the same land that her husband did: trees and a nearby field all covered in snow.

She couldn’t even offer up a warning to the fluffy animals to her side before that loud noise chimed again.  Just as before, that next victim of the clock was only there for a moment before she was stretched into the device itself.

Zelda spun about and pushed behind Peanut, burying her nose in the blanket beside the cat’s rump.

“What are you doing?” the feline asked.  Our humans were just sucked into another dimension, and you’re going to run and hide?”

“I’m scared!” the dog admitted.

“That’s not the Zelda I know,” Peanut said, standing up from her cuddle spot.  “Where’s the dog who bravely leapt into the portal to Santa’s manor last year?  Where’s the pup who pulled a magical sleigh through a canyon of toothy penguins?  Where’s the Zelda who annoys me incessantly?”

The little brown chihuahua perked up at that last bit.  “That doesn’t sound very encouraging.”

“I know.  That last bit was just for me,” the cat confessed.

Letting a nervous sigh flare her nostrils, the dog rose to her feet once more, and walked to the edge of the couch, just as the clock was spinning in their direction.  “You’re coming with too, right?” she asked.

Before she received her answer, that bell chimed again, sucking Zelda into that other world to join her humans.

Peanut spun around in a circle, finding a comfortable groove in that bed once more.  A small feline smile showed up on her face then, and she tilted over to the side.

“Now that I have some peace and quiet, perhaps I can get some work done,” she said.  At that, she lifted her paw just before her nose, and licked between the padding on her foot.

It didn’t take long for her to realize that the clock had not finished its task.  It floated over toward her and pointed in her direction, and Peanut knew that it had one more victim it meant to claim.  She rose up to spring away, but that bell chimed one final time.  The cat was whisked away, leaving the room empty.

A puff of snow shot out from the face of that clock, and it fell to the bed where the animals once were.

*          *          *          *          *

With a confused shout, Michael plunged through that portal, landing on that snowy, icy ground without any manner of grace.  He lost his footing and rolled over several times until he came to a stop on his back.

“Welcome back, Mike,” he muttered as he looked to the spinning sky.  As the man sat up and rubbed his head, he realized that none of the area around him looked familiar.  “Where am I?”

Behind him, he heard that strange toll of the bell once more, though that time it was dissonant and warbled.  He looked over his shoulder, watching the rippling portal pulse and thrum.  Without any warning, his wife went racing through that gateway.  She managed to land on her feet, despite the awkward journey through that rift.  The woman slid for a few moments on that icy ground before she lost her footing, and fell to her rump.

“Rhianna!” Michael cried, scrambling to her side.

“I’m okay,” she assured him.  “I’m going to have a huge bruise on my butt though, I just know it!”

He helped her to her feet, and wrapped her in a tight embrace, as though he hadn’t seen her for years.  “I’m just glad you’re okay.  Nothing got scrambled going through there, did it?”

She shook her head.  “I thought it would be far worse.  That clock was so small.”

“Definitely not the same way we traveled last year,” he agreed.

“And not the same place we traveled to,” Rhianna replied.  “This isn’t Santa’s home.  Where are we?”

Michael turned to look at that vast field of white.  There were some coniferous trees here and there, but he couldn’t see much else.  “I’m not quite sure,” he confessed.  “Wherever we are, it’s cold enough where I wish we could have packed a sweater or a jacket or something.”

“I came in pajamas last year,” Rhianna reminded him.

He snickered at that memory, but couldn’t reflect on it for long.  That bell tolled again, the trilling noise announcing another arrival.

“Help!” the husband and wife heard then.

“Was that—?” Michael began.

“It’s Zelda!” his beloved said.

They both turned to the portal, where a chestnut-colored swirl went tumbling toward them, bigger and bigger, until it was the size of their dog.  Michael lunged forward, and caught the pooch against his chest.  Zelda shook her head, clearing that befuddlement before she looked at her humans.

“I remember flying being a lot more fun last time we did it,” she said.  Michael and Rhianna could tell by her voice that she was a bit woozy.

“Are you alright little puppers?” Rhianna asked.

Before they could pry much further, another chime of that bell announced the final member of their family’s arrival.  Zelda yipped and launched herself away from Michael’s arms, just in time for Peanut to come shooting out of the portal.  She slammed into the man’s stomach hard enough to knock him off his feet.

“No!” she cried when she saw herself surrounded by all that snow.  “It was nap time!”

Rhianna couldn’t contain her laughter.  “It’s always nap time for you, Peanut,” she said, scooping her up off Michael’s chest.

“See, you understand!” the cat lamented.

Zelda jumped around the woman while Rhianna held the feline close to her chest, petting her just behind her ears.

“I’m fine by the way,” the man said, still lying on his back in that snow.  His taunting gone unnoticed, he was the only one left to watch as that portal shuddered before finally closing.  No longer obscured by that magical rift, the other side of that snowy landscape was visible to him.  With mouth ajar, he climbed to his feet, in awe of the sight before him.  “What is this place?” he muttered.

The rest of his family turned to observe what he saw then as well.  Beyond another long stretch of snow, they saw a heap of shaped metal, Christmas lights hung on them in interesting patterns, and large spotlights casting their glow into the grey sky.

“We are definitely not at Santa’s manor,” Rhianna said.

“Or his workshop,” Michael added.  “Either way, there’s no other place I can think of to go besides there.  We were brought here for a reason.  Shall we?”  Once he saw that Rhianna and the animals made their way in that direction, he led them forward.

As they drew nearer to that stunning locale, they could hear festive music from within.  A far cry from their last visit, everything seemed so modern.  A giant slab of concrete was under their feet, recently swept clear of snow.  Michael looked at his wife, his eyebrow arched in confusion.

“Is that…symphonic metal?” he wondered.

“Something is definitely strange about this place,” Rhianna said.  “Don’t let your guard down.”

They proceeded forward, following the sound of that music.  The building at the center of the area seemed as good a bet as any, and before long, they were standing in front of the thick, steel door.

“I could really use a sword right about now,” he said.  “Just in case.”

“It’s okay Daddy!” Zelda offered up in a quiet but eager voice.  “I’ll protect us!”

With a smile on his face, he reached down and patted the pup on her head.

“What about you, Peanut?” Rhianna asked.  “Are you going to pull your weight?”

The cat looked up at the woman with pleading eyes.  “Whatever you do, don’t put me down on this cold concrete.”

Michael sighed.  “We all ready?”  Without waiting to hear if they were, he pushed open that door, and the music roared out of that building.

Inside it was dark.  None of the visitors realized that there were no windows fashioned in to the building.  The only traces of light were far inside that singular room, except for when another one sparked into existence.

The lone inhabitant of that building jerked upright then, noticing the light that poured into the room.  They turned around, and their oversized goggles, set into a mask to shield their face, reflected the outside world back at the visitors.  Michael brought up his arm to shield his eyes from that illumination, aided only a moment later by the flare of a welding torch.

“I think we’re in the wrong place,” he said, backing away with his hands upraised.

The dweller of that strange structure stood up, and advanced on the entrance to that building.  “You’re in the right place, alright,” a deep voice resonated.  He could see that the being was smaller than he first considered, standing just slightly taller than navel level.

“Michael, let’s get out of here,” Rhianna said.

“You’re early,” the masked individual said.  A deep laugh echoed out behind that mask as they considered those words, and they reached up and plucked the mask off their face.  Free of the headwear, the DeAngelos realized their host was not at all what they expected.  The gnome laughed again, shaking her head.  “Imagine that: early to this place.”  A bright smile was on her face then, and she slapped her palm against her forehead.  “Of course, we haven’t met yet.  I’m Narala.  I’m one of Santa’s helpers.”  She continued across the way, dropping her welding mask on the ground.  As she drew closer to the light, the visitors could see her a little clearer.  She wore a work uniform that was comprised of plenty of leather—mostly covering her hands and her feet, though she also had a sturdy apron—though some metal was affixed to her outfit on her knees and shoulders.  A red headband kept her hair up and back, away from her eyes and her mask when she wore it.  Wearing that mask kept her face unmarred from her work.

“You’re the DeAngelo family, right?” she asked.  “Oh, what am I saying—of course you are!  You’re just as Revan described.”

“You know Revan?” Zelda piped up, stepping into the workshop.  She spun around, unable to contain her excitement.  “Mommy, Daddy, that’s the one who gave us the potions last year!”

“This doesn’t look like Santa’s workshop though,” Rhianna said.  Peanut leapt from the woman’s arms then, crawling into the building and letting her nose draw her toward interesting scents.  Zelda was inspired by that curiosity too, and fell in line behind the cat.

Narala snickered again.  “Well you don’t think the big man has just the one workshop, do you?”  She walked up and scratched the pup beneath her chin before taking a step to her side and flicking an unseen switch.  The workshop buzzed with activity then, brass and copper machines coming to life against the perimeter of the building.  “Revan and her folks are in charge of making sure Santa’s sleigh gets airborne, and stays there.  Then there are the people who work making toys and gifts.  Me, I’m in charge of making sure there’s enough time to do everything.”

“Oh, I get it,” Michael chortled.  “That’s why this year’s portal was the clock.  So it was you that sent for us.”

That grin on the gnome’s face grew wider.  “You liked that, huh?  Just a small piece of equipment to get you here fast.  Most of my stuff moves a bit quicker than all that, of course, but I wanted to get you here in one piece!”

“Not to be rude or anything,” Rhianna said, “but we were expecting Santa.  He said he’d see us again this year.”

The gnome interlocked her fingers together, and extended her arms, flipping her hands over to crack her elbows.  “That’s not rude at all,” she assured her guests.  “And you’ll definitely see the big man before your trip is over.  It’s just that, well…it might not be the way you were expecting.

“You see,” Narala went on, “Santa has tasked you four with a super-secret mission this year.  It’s not just the fate of Christmas that’s in your hands, but the fate of  every Christmas, across all of history and into the future.”

“No pressure or anything,” Michael said.

“What do you mean by that, Narala?” Rhianna asked.

Clapping her hands together, the gnome gestured with her head to the opposite side of the room.  “Come this way,” she said.  “Santa couldn’t be here to welcome you because of how clandestine this meeting had to be.  If our enemies knew you were here, they would try and come up with some sort of plan to stop you.  We couldn’t chance that, as you can guess.  We needed you to be able to go back in time unobstructed.”

“Did you say back in time?” the man asked.

“To the first Christmas,” Narala said with a forceful nod.  “Santa’s first Christmas.  Let me explain.”  She grabbed a small remote, and clicked the sole red button on it.

Behind the married couple, a loud noise resonated, and a large screen began descending from the ceiling.

Rhianna leaned over, and whispered in Michael’s ear.  “We could use a TV that big in our living room.”

The device finally clicked into place, and the husband and wife waited for the presentation to begin.  Behind them, another pop resonated, and they heard a faint buzz.  They looked back to see a warm light projecting in front of them, but after that could not shed their eager anticipation.

That screen was awash in that glow, illuminated so that it looked like parchment.  Just then, a tremendous shadow took shape over the screen.  It didn’t take long for it to morph into a form they could make sense of.  Michael chortled to himself and smacked his hand against his face.

Rhianna looked back and confirmed their suspicions.  Narala set her hands together in front of the lamp she turned on, and a series of mirrors threw that light show onto the screen.

“Shadow puppets!” the redhead giggled as she drew in close to her husband.

“Hey!” the little gnome shouted.  Rhianna jerked upright, embarrassed at her scolding, but when she cautiously turned about, she noticed that Narala wasn’t looking at her.  Instead, she was gazing across that workshop, to the animals who were investigating the perimeter still.  Peanut was on one of those workbenches, sniffing at the brass objects there, while Zelda investigated on the floor.  “Hey!” Narala called out again.  “Be careful over there.  That’s some pretty important stuff!”

“It’s not dangerous, is it?” Michael asked.

“Nah,” the gnome said.  “It’s just my lunch.  Anyway, where were we?”

“At the beginning, I think,” the man replied.

“Ah yes!” Narala said.  “The very beginning.”  Once again, those hands went up, creating rudimentary shadow puppets.  Birds and wolves were just the start, and once the gnome was warmed up, she put together some very impressive impressions.  “Thousands of years ago, before the gnomes were even here on the surface of Tellest, a man, his wife, and their friend arrived on an unfamiliar shore.  That man was destined for greatness, but he had lost faith in himself after some terrible happenings in the land he came from.  His wife assured him they could make a new life in this unfamiliar place, but he didn’t know where to begin.

“That man,” the gnome went on, “was Santa.  In time, he grew used to this place and flourished here.  But more important than that: he helped it get better as well.

“Not everyone has been so content with his time on Tellest though.”  Narala sighed, and put her hands together to make what looked like a vicious fiend of a person.  Angry shadow eyes seemed to stare at Michael and Rhianna, and though they knew it was just the gnome’s doing, they still shifted in that discomfort.  “This is Shathlin, and he’s the worst grouch you’ll ever see.  He’s an elf that blames all his problems—and those of his greater family—on Santa’s arrival.”

“Seems like a Grinch,” Rhianna said.

“I don’t know what that is,” Narala replied.  “But if it’s bad, I agree!”

“So was this…Shathlin—is that right?” Michael asked.

“Yup!”

“Was he around when Santa first arrived here?”

Narala shook her head.  “No, but his father was.  He poisoned his son’s mind with false accusations against Santa, and no matter what we’ve tried to tell him, Shathlin cannot be swayed.”

“So what’s the problem?” Michael pressed.  “What’s he done that is worth worrying about?”

“It’s what he’s going to do,” the gnome said.  “And what he’s already done.  Nothing is set in stone yet, but within the past few weeks, he attacked this very laboratory and stole some of my equipment!  Now, we’re lucky because what he found was pretty rudimentary.  He won’t be able to do exactly what he wants, but he knows enough people who have it out for Santa that he’s going to be a problem for us.  If they figure out how to tweak the settings on the things they pilfered, we’re all in a lot of trouble.”

“And how do we fit into all this?” Rhianna wondered.

Narala smiled and hopped from her perch.  She approached the husband and wife, and tossed a blue velvet bag to Michael.  “Do me a favor and look in there, will ya?”

The man righted that bag and opened it up, spotting nothing unusual inside.  “It’s empty,” he declared.

“Alright, now Rhianna, verify that for us.”

He handed the bag to her, and she nodded when she too saw nothing of value inside it.

“Now watch this,” the gnome said as her eager grin grew even wider.  She approached the perimeter of that room, and looked at one of the many work desks.  “Ah,” she said as she found the item she was looking for.  Turning about, she saw the little animals, still conducting their search of the workshop.  “You there, on the tables,” Narala said.  “You’re Peanut, right?”

The feline sat up upon hearing her name, and tilted her head to the side to consider the strange gnome.  “I only give up that kind of information to those who are willing to part with treats.”

Narala chortled upon hearing that.  “Well then I think I have just the one for you.  How’d you like to chase this little mouse?” she asked, holding out her hand and presenting a small copper rodent.

At once, Peanut was ensorcelled by that artificial animal.  She jumped to the ground, her eager eyes looking up at the engineer who was only a few feet taller than her.

The gnome was careful to place the mouse on the stone floor, and when it was there, she gave a few twists of the dial.  At once the clockwork mouse was filled with life, and it moved across the ground.  Peanut went into hunter mode at once, chasing the rolling rodent as it wheeled away.  She didn’t notice as Zelda skittered away from the strange noise, hiding beside her humans.

Drawing close, the cat placed her head near her paws as she raised her haunches.  As soon as she pounced though, a blue light pulsed from the mouse, and it disappeared from sight.

“What?”  Peanut cried, looking about in every direction.  “Where did it go?”

Narala chortled as she looked at the humans again.  “Rhianna, would you do me a favor and look back in that bag again?”

The auburn-haired beauty spread the velvet bag open, and sure enough, the little brass mouse was inside.

“You teleported it!” Rhianna said.

“That’s right!” the gnome giggled.  “So we’re going to essentially do that same thing to you guys, okay?  Only we’re going to teleport you through time.”

“Uh, what?”  Michael asked.

“You four are going to be Christmas guardians,” Narala said.  “It’s only a matter of time before Shathlin manages to figure out the gear he took from this workshop.  When he does, he’s going to end up heading back in time to try and stop Santa from putting together that first Christmas.  If he does that, every Christmas will be ruined!”

“This sounds incredibly unsafe,” Rhianna said.  “How do we know we’ll end up in the right place?  What about the right time?”

“And for that matter,” Michael added, “how do we manage to get back here?”

“You sill humans and your ‘safety precautions,’” Narala teased.  “Don’t worry about anything.  Shathlin might not know what he’s doing, but I have extensive training in the art of chronomancy!  I’ve been doing this since you were in grade school, Rhianna.”  The gnome turned about and rooted underneath the work desk before plucking out an object that was considerably bigger than the mouse she used to taunt the cat.  That device, a twelve-sided, brass object, was heavy enough to elicit a grunt when Narala hoisted it onto the table.

“This is a time travel buoy,” she said, knocking on it with her knuckles.  “This is what’s going to get you into the past, and what’s going to get you back from it.”  She waved Michael over, and pushed a button on that brass device.  One of those panels slid away, revealing a black screen.  At once, a blue light shone out in a triangular formation.  “Put your finger right there, would you?” the gnome asked.

With trepidation, Michael pushed his index finger into that blue light.  A two-beat tone sounded, and the man took his hand back, almost cradling it against his chest.

“There we go,” Narala said. “Aaaaand boop!”  The gnome lunged toward the device, and pushed another button.

That brass dodecahedron rose into the air with a quiet thrum, and hovered in back of Michael.  Without warning, the blue light on the buoy expanded a hundredfold, enveloping Michael in its glow.  A surprised shout was the only noise he could produce before he and the device disappeared from the room.

Peanut skittered across the floor then, hiding behind Zelda, who couldn’t keep from shaking.

“What did you just do?” Rhianna shouted.

“Not to worry,” Narala said.  “I configured the device one hundred percent to the correct specifications.  At least I think I did.  Anyway, he should be back in a couple of minutes, so why don’t we get the rest of you synched up with your own buoys?”

“Maybe because you just made my daddy vanish!” Zelda yipped.

“That’s right,” Rhianna said.  “We’re not doing anything until you bring my husband back!”

Narala brought up her hands.  “Alright, that’s fine.  I suppose it is a little harrowing to go through all that and watch the patriarch of the family just—poof—out of existence.  While we wait for him to come back, let’s get the missus out of those plain clothes and into something a little more specific to the time you’ll be visiting.”

Somehow, that proposal did offer up a fine distraction to the woman, and the two animals that followed her.  Narala led the trio to the back corner of that building, where a rudimentary closet had been fashioned.  The gnome opened the door, and a candy cane striped outfit with bells on it was prominently displayed.

“Uh…” Rhianna muttered.

Narala couldn’t stifle a giggle then.  “That ones for Revan.  Sorry!”  She spun the base of the closet, and the outfit rotated out of view, bringing another one into sight.  That one, a leather outfit that was lined with fur with some matching boots, was much more to her liking.

“Ooh,” the woman said as she drew nearer to her new clothes.

The cat behind her scoffed and shook her head.  “Typical,” Peanut said.  “Michael is missing and she’s busy being distracted by clothes.”

“Actually,” Narala said as she looked down to her wrist, “it should only be a few more moments before we see him again.  Everybody count to three!  One…two…”

Nobody counted along with the gnome, but her anticipation was wrong, as that blue light came back into view on the count of two.  A crackle of electricity accompanied that light, and when the DeAngelo family looked back to where they once stood, Michael stood there.  The man stared ahead with wide eyes, unable to focus on anything in particular.  His clothes were torn and tattered, and covered with smudges and grime.  The time travel buoy was floating by his side again, bobbing in the air like a ship on the ocean.

Rhianna was able to wrench her focus from the outfit, and she ran to her husband.  “Honey!  Are you okay?”  When he didn’t answer her, she wrapped him in a tight embrace and turned him toward her.

“There were dinosaurs,” Michael said.  “There were dinosaurs.  She didn’t give me any warning, but there were dinosaurs.”

Narala let a sheepish grin stretch across her face.  “I may have forgotten to change the settings on that buoy after my last vacation.  Let me just tweak a few things here.”  She hopped up and grabbed that device from the air, pushing on the buttons here and there until she saw Michael’s angry face not far from her.

“Do not send me back there!” he demanded.  “Don’t you dare push any more buttons!”

The gnome let fly a nervous chuckle.  “I’ll let you decide when it’s time to go, and I’ll show you how to read it before you push the button to time hop on your own, kay?”

*          *          *          *          *

Decked out in new clothes, the husband and wife appeared much more prepared to face the hardships of Tellest, in any era.  Michael’s outfit was also a warm leather ensemble, but he also wore black trousers whereas his wife showed some skin between her boots and the hemline of her dress.

“Next year I want an outfit,” Zelda declared.

The man and his wife leaned over the table while the gnome pulled up a chair to get a better look at each of those items.

“Alright,” Narala said.  “Is it all to your satisfaction?”

“If all this information is correct, and you’re not sending us back to dinosaur times again, I think we can handle it.”

“Alright,” the gnome said.  “You’ll have to touch that blue spot to synchronize it to your bio-signs again, and then I’ll show you once again how to make the jump.”  She grabbed two smaller versions of the device and turned to the DeAngelo pets, which shied away as Narala drew closer.  “Now which one of you wants to go first?”

Rhianna looked to her husband and tapped him on the arm.  “So should I be worried?  What was it like going back in time?”

He forced a not-too-convincing smile to his face.  “Remember when we went to that waterpark earlier this month, and I went on that trap-door slide?  It was kind of like that.  Although I guess this was nicer, since I didn’t get any water in my nose.”

“What about once you were there?”

“Well, if our lovely host hadn’t dropped me right into a pachycephalosaurus nest, everything would have been fine.”

“A pachy-whatsit?” Rhianna asked.

“Yes,” Michael replied.  “You know…those head-butting dinosaurs?  I was so busy watching my time buoy disappear in front of me that I didn’t realize I was in any trouble.  But if she puts us in the right place and the right time, I don’t think we’ll have anything to worry about.”

“Do…not…want!” they heard Zelda shout then.  Narala struggled to put the dog’s paw on the blue light, with the pup tugging away with all her might.  “Help, help, help!” she pleaded.

Michael snickered as he walked to his frazzled fur-baby.  “She’s just like this when we take her to the vet.”  He looked to the dog then, and bent down to kneel beside her.  “Do you want to do it yourself, Zelda?  High five!” he said as he moved the buoy in front of her.  She slapped the black screen of the device, and a tiny tone registered the success.  The blue light pulsed for a moment, and the object floated up into the air beside the pup.

Rhianna sighed and pushed her finger against the glowing spot on her buoy as well.  When it floated into the air, she approached Narala with concern in her eyes.  “Any advice you’d give us?  I get vertigo on long car rides,” she said.  “And Michael said the buoy disappeared, and there were head-butty dinosaurs and—”

“Relax,” the gnome said with a laugh.  “I’ve got everything configured perfectly now.  You guys won’t see any big ol’ monsters on this trip, and you’ll be there quicker than you think.  It won’t even feel like a bump in the road.  And as for the buoy disappearing, that’s not a defect, it’s a feature.  You can’t very well show up in the past with all kinds of future technology following you around.  But it’s not gone, just cloaked.  It’ll follow you around and won’t let you get stuck anywhere you’re not supposed to be!”

As Narala finished that statement, Michael arrived beside them, cradling each of their pets under his arms.  Two of those floating buoys followed behind them.  “I’m the only straggler,” the man said.  He placed the animals on the ground, and pushed his finger against the dodecahedron that was configured for him, and sure enough, that tone sounded and it floated up beside him.  “Truth be told this thing is starting to grow on me.”

“You’re sure you can’t go with us?” Rhianna asked.  “You’ve done this so much, I feel like we could use your expertise.”

“You probably could!” Narala teased.  “But the problem is gnomes weren’t there yet in Tellest’s history.  If Santa or his wife or his companion saw me, that could arouse some suspicion that I’d rather avoid.  Plus, if you do run into Shathlin, he’ll recognize me, but you four won’t even be a blip on his radar!”

“No problem,” Michael said.  “Except we don’t know what he looks like either.”

Narala chortled.  “Trust me: you’ll know him when you see him.  Millennia of being an old grouch definitely made him an angry looking fellow.  Now, if we’re all set, we should get you moving.”

“Off to save Christmas,” Zelda piped up.  “Again!”

“I guess we’re ready then, Narala,” Michael said.  “Any last bits of advice you can give us?”

“Nah, you’ll be fine.  Just look out for any yetis or things like that, and stick to the plan.  You’ll be back here before you know it.”

“Yetis?” Rhianna echoed.

“If there are any, I mean,” the gnome replied.  “Not that I’ve ever seen any.”

The woman sighed.  “This keeps getting better and better.”

“Alright everyone, grab your buoys.  You’re just going to hit that little button right behind the—no not that one—this one right over here—you’re sure I can’t do this for you?”

“We’ve got this,” Michael said.  “See you all on the other side!”  He pushed that button then, and that blue light encompassed him completely.  Just like before, he vanished in that powerful glow; leaving the rest of his family wondering if everything went as planned.

“No sense waiting, I guess,” Rhianna said.  “Here goes nothing!”  She followed her husband’s lead, and pushed that button, and in an instant, she was gone as well.

The pup blew air our through her nose before she spun that device about, locating the button that her family was pushing to activate the buoy.  After a moment’s hesitation, she looked away and slapped her paw against it.  “See you there Peanut!” she said before that blue light enveloped her and whisked her away.

For a few moments, Peanut just stared at the beacon, floating in the air in front of her.  Narala stared at the cat, which finally looked back up at the gnome.  “I refuse,” she said.

“But your family is already back in time,” Narala said.

“Why is that my problem?” Peanut asked.

“Fine, I’ll just push your buoy’s button myself,” the gnome replied.

“Nuh uh!” the cat yelled as she darted away from the engineer.  The device followed after her, and Narala just missed it when she lunged for it.

“You have to save Christmas!” she cried.

*          *          *          *          *

A gentle snow was falling when that man fell a few inches to land on his feet.

“Much better than dinosaurs,” he said as he looked about on those wintery plains.  It was quiet in that field, the snow leaving the place sounding silent for miles.  And without the man’s family nearby to offer up witty remarks or curious observations, he couldn’t discount the loneliness there.  Far beyond there though, just beyond a line of trees in the distance, he saw a column of smoke rising into the air.

“Is that where Santa lives?” he heard.  When he turned about his wife was there, and the time buoy she traveled with was just beginning to fade away, cloaking itself the way Narala had indicated it would.  “I was kind of hoping we’d be dropped off a little closer.”

“I didn’t even hear you arrive,” he said, crossing through that tall snow and wrapping his wife in a hug as though he hadn’t seen her in quite a long time.  “That’s a first,” he teased.  He spun about then, looking at that smoky pillar once more.  “I suppose it makes sense to be this far away.  If he was out and about, he’d certainly have seen us.  And if the buoys didn’t have time to disappear…”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said.  “You’ve always got to see the bright side of things, don’t you?  Can’t you just complain with me for once?” she asked, playfully poking him in the ribs.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.  “You’re not too cold are you?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she replied in an exuberant tone.  “Even with all this snow on the ground, it doesn’t feel as chilly as it looks.”

“You’re right.  And that’s good.  The snow is firm and a bit crunchy, but it’s tall.  Hopefully our fluffies don’t end up caught in any of it.”

“It’s as tall as they are,” Rhianna chortled.

“So I guess we’ll just wait here until Peanut and Zelda come through.”

“It shouldn’t be long.  They were both right by me when I made my jump.”

Michael nodded, but was left waiting there for some time.  He crossed his arms over his chest and starting tapping his foot against the snow.  When yet more time passed with no sign of their pets, he clicked his tongue, mimicking a clock’s pendulum.

As soon as he opened his mouth to speak though, a bright blue light pulsed thirty feet away.  Even from that distance, they could see the cat and her brass buoy.

“That little twit,” the feline grumbled.  “Faster than she looked.”

“You had us worried for a moment Peanut,” Rhianna said.  “We were worried you weren’t coming.”

The cat jumped at the surprising sound of her human’s voice, but when she turned around she wore a saccharine grin.  “I couldn’t possibly let you three come here on your own.  We’re a family—we go on adventures together.”  She couldn’t discount the cold sensation under her foot much longer, and she brought her paw off the ground, flicking it several times.

“What a brave kitty,” Rhianna said, plucking the cat from the snow.

Michael was there a moment later, running his gloved hand across Peanut’s furry spine.  “We’re glad you got here safely, Peanut.  Did you come through before Zelda?”

As if finally understanding that the final member of their family was nowhere nearby, the cat crooned her neck to look over the woman’s shoulder.  She looked all about those plains though, and didn’t spot the little copper-colored pooch.  “She should be here already,” Peanut muttered.  “She came through a while before me—that is, uh… I had a lot of questions for Narala.”

“It’s just the three of us,” Rhianna said, though she couldn’t disguise the nervousness that made its way to her voice.

Peanut’s ears flicked a few times, and she stepped onto Rhianna’s shoulder, looking in the direction of those trees and that pillar of smoke in the distance.  “I hear something over there.  I think it’s Zelda!”

Michael was already running in that direction before the cat made her thoughts clear.  “C’mon,” he called out to Rhianna.  “Maybe Narala’s calculations weren’t as well as she thought they were.”

*          *          *          *          *

“Hellooooo!” the dog shouted, her little voice echoing through that forest.  “Mom?  Dad?”  After a short pause, she bowed her head a little.  “Peanut?”  She swallowed away the anxious feeling that was welling up in her throat.  Those trees were so big, though, and she knew beyond all doubt that she was lost.

The buoy had faded from view minutes before, but she could still hear the subtle thrum that followed her with every few steps she took.  It would have been lost to human ears, no doubt, but that hidden device did offer her some solace.  If she somehow wasn’t able to find her humans, at least they would all return to the workshop together again.

She recalled the gnome’s explanation for everything, though.  Those buoys wouldn’t pull them back to that place for hours.  Zelda bowed her head again, and sniffed at the thought of being alone all that time.

Just then, though, she heard the crack of a fallen branch.  The pup gasped and moved to hide beside the nearest tree.  Though her reddish-brown coat was sure to be seen against that white canvas, the bark of that evergreen disguised her well enough.

Zelda heard whatever was out there drawing nearer to her, loud breaths echoing against the ground.  She looked all around, noticing that nearest to her, the snow wasn’t able to stack as abundantly.  The branches above protected the ground, and some strands of grass poked out through the frost.

A noisy snort preceded the sudden appearance of a huge furry face.  Zelda gasped and her body locked up as the creature inched forward, grazing at that grass surrounding that tree.  The horns on its head came into view then as well, as well as its massive body.

The reindeer spotted the dog, then, and gazed at her for a second before grunting and returning to eating.

“Hi!” Zelda said once she was sure the creature meant her no harm.  “You’re a really pretty dog, and I like those things on your head.  Is that like a hat?  I’m going to call you Svetlana, is that alright?  It’s nice to meet you Svetlana.  Oh, I’m Zelda!”

A moment later, the reindeer was upright again, looking out past the nearest trees.  It grunted again, almost sounding like a cow’s bellow.

“You heard me trying to call my family?” Zelda wondered.  “Thanks for trying to get them to hear me!”  She spun about to face the same direction as the reindeer and sat down, crooning her head back.  “Hellooooo!” the dog howled again.

Whether it was because of that noise from the dog, or just because it sensed something out there, the reindeer bellowed again, lifting its own head toward the canopy above.

“That’s right,” Zelda said.  “If they’re around here, they’ll definitely hear both of us!  Hellooooo!  We’re over here!”

Her tail was wagging before she ever saw her people.  She could hear their hasty approach, and in a moment, she saw Michael and Rhianna just beyond the furthest trees.

Michael spotted her, and quickened his steps.  As he sprinted toward the little dog, kicking up snow along the way, she stood up on her hind legs and kicked at the air.  “Daddy!” she cried.

He plucked her up and grabbed her tight.  “We were worried, little puppers!”

“I’m alright,” she said, licking his face before he set her down.  “Svetlana was keeping me company.”

“Svetlana?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, this big dog,” Zelda said.  She spun around to introduce her new friend, but the reindeer was nowhere in sight.  “That’s odd.  She was just here.”

“You sure you weren’t just playing make believe?” the man teased.

Before the dog could answer, Rhianna arrived.  “We were so worried!” she exclaimed as she bent low beside her.

“Daddy said,” Zelda replied with a big smirk on her face.  “But it’s okay.  We’re all together again.”  She looked past her humans, and saw the careful, deliberate approach of the cat.  “Even Peanut’s here!”

“Come on, Kitty,” the woman said.  “We still have to go a bit farther to meet Santa at his lodge.”

“Do you think it’s the same place we’ve been before?” Michael asked.  “Maybe we’re in the same location, just thousands of years earlier.”

“That would be cool!”

Together, the family pushed through the woods, until they reached another wide open field.  In the middle of that area though, they could see the cabin that was sending that pillar of smoke into the sky.  Another small building was off to the side, but it didn’t appear that it was in use.  Still, it looked festive enough, with giant candy canes strewn about outside.

“That’s got to be it,” Michael said.  “Remember, nobody tell him that we’re from the future.”

“Or from another world,” Rhianna added.

“You know what, it might be better if you guys don’t talk either,” the man said as he looked at the DeAngelo animals.  “Where he’s from, they probably don’t have talking dogs or cats.”

They walked across that snowy field, noting that it felt somewhat colder then.  The sun began its descent, and dark clouds rolled across the area.  That dark sight had each of them moving a little quicker, and before they realized it, they were in front of the cabin, close enough to hear the raucous group of people inside.

“I thought we’d only be seeing Santa and his wife, and like…one friend,” Rhianna said.

“It sounds like a party in there,” Michael agreed.  “Be on your guard for anything everyone.”  He moved up to the stone step in front the door, and knocked on that sturdy wood.

It only took a few moments, but the way swung open, and a man not much older than Michael answered the door.  “Nanna, I think some of your friends are here!” he called out.  If she heard him beyond the ruckus of that celebration, nobody else knew.

The folks outside the door looked at that man, a broad, fit fellow who had a thin beard lining his beard.  Speckles of silver were apparent in that beard, the same as the long mop of hair on his head.  He arched his eyebrow at the sight of that observation, revealing piercing blue eyes.  The man chortled and shrugged.  “So, who exactly are you?”

Michael shook his head and extended his hand.  “Sorry about that.  I’m Michael, and this is my wife Rhianna.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said.  “For the first time.  Ever.”

“And these are our pets, Peanut and—”

The dog simply couldn’t resist her cheerful urges.  She ran up to that step and sat before the youthful fellow.  “Santa!” she cried.  “I’m Zelda.  I can’t talk.”

Michael simply stared at the fellow and slowly allowed a sheepish grin to appear on his face.  “We’ve…uh…we’ve told her not to talk to strangers.”

The youthful version of their friend let out that big belly laugh that they had heard when they first met him.  It set everyone at ease—even Peanut.  He waved them inside, and they were eager to oblige him.

When everyone was safe inside that warm cabin, they realized just how many people were sharing in the mirth of the spirit of Christmas himself.  Several of them were humans, but the majority of the guests appeared to be dwarves. Ale was spilling from tall wooden mugs, and a great feasting table was abutted against the wall opposite the fireplace.  More than once, as those visitors moved from one place to another, one of the animals was forced to dodge out of the way of a sturdy boot or frothy liquid.

“So how did you meet Nanna?” Santa asked as he led them through the room.  “We haven’t met a lot of humans around here.  They—uh, that is, we—don’t usually like the cold that much.”

“Oh, um…” Michael started.

“We didn’t actually meet Nanna,” Rhianna piped up.  “We heard about this little shindig while on our travels and wanted to drop by and see if you needed anything.”

“That’s very thoughtful!” Santa declared.  “We’ve only been here about a year now, so I apologize if I’ve seen you around and haven’t said hello just yet.”

“No, it’s alright,” Michael said.  “We’re only in this area about once a year as it is.  And we may not be neighbors, so to speak, but it’s good to know that good people are living out here.”

“Thank you for the kind words,” Santa said.  “Well, there’s plenty of food and drink to go around, so please help yourselves.  And if there’s anything you need, just let me know.”

Michael took a step after young Father Christmas then, holding up his hand.  “Uh, actually…travelers might not be the right word for us.  We’re more—”

“Helpful adventurers,” Rhianna said.

Her husband nodded.  “We sort of go wherever we’re needed, and more often than not, we don’t even know why we’re needed there.  But we were drawn here, so maybe there’s something we could do to help you.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Santa said, lifting up his hands as though he were about to be robbed.  “My wife and I have spent a considerable amount of money setting up a shop in Thurn Todur. We don’t really have anything left to spare.”

The visitors were already shaking their heads.  “I’m sorry,” Michael said.  “We help out of the goodness of our hearts.”  He turned a bit to the side, and looked at Rhianna in his peripheral vision, then.  “Though if you remember this for thousands of years, I really wouldn’t mind a new laptop,” he muttered.

“Really?” Santa asked.  “That’s a truly selfless attitude.”

“We live to serve,” Rhianna said.  As if pushing back a headache then, she placed her hand upon her temple.  “Ah, I’m getting something.  Are you by any chance having any problems with any nearby elves, or anything of that sort?”

Santa’s eyes grew wide at that question.  His mouth hung open just a bit, and he looked around, as though he were trying to see if anyone was playing a joke on him.  “Come with me,” he said.  He led the DeAngelo family into an adjoining room, where his bed was made with thick maroon blankets.  Once the door was shut behind them, he looked at them with concern in his eyes.

“We have been having some trouble with the elves,” he divulged.  “As I said, my wife and I have been here for nearly a year, and we’ve made inroads with a lot of the locals.  But the elves have been a little more reticent to make any alliances.  Some of them are pushing for some kind of agreement, and the others almost seem prone to violence.  Nanna and I are worried that if we push things, we might incite some kind of civil war between them—or worse.”

“Maybe we can be sort of like your ambassadors,” Michael said.  “We could try and ease the tensions.”

Before they could talk much longer, everyone heard a knock on the door.  It swung open, then, and they saw a woman who looked to be no older than Rhianna.  Long blond hair hung down past the fur lining of a cloak, and draped onto a beautiful ornate cuirass.  She pointed her piercing blue eyes at the man draped in red, and offered up her lovely smile.

“There you are, Baldur.  I didn’t know we had more guests.”

Michael turned to his wife and arched an eyebrow.  He mouthed the name that the woman had used.

“Everyone, this is my wife, Nanna,” Santa said.

“Pleased to meet you all,” the woman said.  “I just wanted to let you know, the snow has begun to fall.  The envoys from Shene Thalore are on their way.”

“Ah, thank you my love.  I’ll be out to welcome them in just a moment.”  When the door shut, he turned back to his guests, and gave a nervous nod.  “That’ll be them, then—the elves I was talking about.  I don’t know if you caught what my wife said, but this particular tribe of elves can do something really amazing.  Whenever it snows, they can send one of those snowflakes back into the sky with a story.  That single snowflake tells all the rest of them whatever the elf said, and when they all come down, anyone touched by the snow as it falls can hear the story like a voice inside their head.  It really is unlike anything I’ve ever heard of.  Of course, they use it for things like this too, letting us know when they’re on their way, or warning of danger.  It really is amazing.”

“It certainly is,” Michael agreed.  “So if you’re going to be meeting these elves, do you want us to come along with you?”

He brought his hand up to his beard and stroked toward his chin.  “That is a kind offer, but it may not be wise to bring strangers to this meeting.  Though we’ve been here a year, we’re still somewhat unfamiliar to the elves.  Bringing yet more faces to the summit may make things uneasy.”

“We understand,” Rhianna said.  “So…Baldur.  That’s an interesting name.”

“Is it?” he asked with a smile.  “Where I’m from, it was a fine name.  We had to leave, though—there were some problems with some members of my family, and…”  He looked out the nearest window at that falling snow, letting those words drift away then.  “But on to better things, as they say.  My wife and I are here now, and we’re making the best of our lives here.  We were lucky enough to have our friend Litr along with us on the journey, too.  Without him here, I don’t think we would have as easy a time making allies of the other dwarves.”

“Well, you can tell by your guests out there that you’ve made some good friends,” Rhianna said.

“We’ve been very lucky in this new land.  When we first arrived, there was nothing but snow and blustery cold.  You couldn’t see the sun, and we were running out of food.  But then one year ago today, the sun came out, and we met the dwarves from the nearby city—all in one day.  Everything changed from there on out.”

“Turning the tide of winter,” Michael said with a bright smile on his face.

“Wintertide,” Santa replied.  “I like that.  Now if we could only get the elves on terms that friendly.  I suppose we’ve got a good start ahead of us.  When they learned that Litr and I were craftsmen, they gave us a mighty hammer to forge some of our goods with.  I’ve actually been using it to work on something for the leader of the elves for some time and just wrapped it up yesterday.  I’m hoping it will be a symbol of our friendship for a long while.”

“I have a feeling you and the elves are going to have a long history together,” Rhianna teased.

“Let’s hope!” he said.

Another knock on the door came then, though that one was far more urgent.  A dwarf flung open that room and ran inside, gasping for air.

“Litr!” Santa said, rising from his seat on the bed.  “What is wrong, my friend?”

“The elves that are on their way,” the dwarf said between pants, “they’ve come under attack.  They just sent a message to us through the snow.”

A look of worry came over the figurehead of Christmas.  “Stop everyone from drinking.  Get Mammok, and let him know we’re going to the aid of the elves.  Get the horses ready tacked and ready.”  Santa turned to his new visitors and shook his head.  “I’m sorry, but might I ask for your help with all this?  We’ve come too far with the elves to let something happen to them today.  Sometimes they can be a superstitious bunch, and I don’t want them to think they can’t depend on us.”

“We’ll be right behind you,” Michael agreed.

Santa rushed from the room then, and when the door was left ajar, the visiting family was impressed with how quickly his other guests had mobilized.  That buzzing cabin was empty of people, and they could feel the draft that was let in from the open front door.

“Something’s not right,” the DeAngelo patriarch said when he was sure Santa was far enough away.  “Shathlin wouldn’t attack his own people, would he?”

“Not unless he’s trying to scare them,” Rhianna said with a shrug.  “But I’d imagine they’d easily outmatch him.”

“And he’d have to be pretty stupid to risk running into some of his own elven tribe—what if he changed the course of history?”

The husband and wife looked at each other before looking at the one who spoke that wise remark.

“That was a pretty smart observation, Peanut,” Rhianna said.

“What?” the cat said with a shrug.  “I pay attention whenever you’re watching Doctor Who.”

Michael chortled, but then he narrowed his eyes as those words reached him.  He snapped his fingers then, and looked to his wife.  “Shathlin isn’t after the elves.  He’s after the hammer.”

Rhianna nodded then.  “Of course!  If Santa lost such an important symbol of friendship with the elves, it would create a schism between them.”

“We have to get to the forge,” Michael said, pushing out of that room and into the gathering area.  “Hopefully we don’t look too cowardly staying behind.”  He gestured outside, where they saw Santa and his guests riding toward the woods on horseback, while several dwarves raced forth, the snow coming halfway up their greaves.

Zelda was the first of the family to make it outside, and when she turned to the forge, she saw the distant figure approaching from the woods.  “There he is!” she cried.

Michael and Rhianna arrived outside then as well, and spotted the sinister looking elf as well.  “That’s got to be him,” the man said seeing that dark armor with the impressive looking spaulders.  Gold inlays were affected on it, leaving it looking quite impressive.  The elf had long, raven black hair, and war paint covering his eyes.  “Yep.  Not imposing in the slightest.”

“We’ve got to get that hammer,” Rhianna said.

Together, the four of them rushed into that forge, and sure enough, there was a mighty looking hammer resting on the anvil before the fire there.  Michael went forth and grabbed it then, noting that even though it was tremendous, it felt quite weightless.

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” Zelda said.  “He’s getting closer!”

“Get to the stables,” Michael said.  “He won’t be able to reach us if we’re mounted.”

Keeping their pace, the four of them rushed to that other building, steam rising from their lips as they panted and gasped for air.  As they entered the stables, though, hope left them.

“No!” Rhianna said.  “All the horses are gone!”

Michael growled.  “I should have seen that coming.”  He looked about, spotting the other end of the building, and the secondary exit there.  “Rhianna, take the hammer, and take the fluffies.  Get out of here through that door back there.  Find safety.  I’ll buy you some time.”

“What the heck do you know about fighting elves?” his wife protested.  “You’re going to get yourself killed!”

“I don’t have to fight him,” Michael said.  “I just have to distract him long enough for you to take the hammer away, alright?”

Rhianna sent an angry gaze in her husband’s direction.  “I’m getting out of here, but it’s not to run away from you, you jerk.  I’m going to find a weapon of my own, and I’ll be right back!”

A groan escaped Michael’s lips.  “Just don’t be seen by this guy, okay?”

She leaned forward and planted a kiss on those lips.  “See you soon,” she whispered.  “Come on you two,” the woman said to the anxious animals.  Peanut and Zelda hurried after her, out into the snow at the rear of the stables.

Rhianna didn’t realize that Zelda had slowed her pace, and turned around to look back into that building where her daddy lay in wait.  The pup heard the deliberate footsteps of that intruder inside, and peeked around the corner of that doorway.

“You did not leave with the others,” the elf said.  He led with his sword drawn, and Michael raised his hands as he stepped away.  “That is unfortunate for you.”

“I’m not sure what you want, but we don’t have much to give you,” the man replied.  “We’re just visiting.”

“I’m sure you are,” Shathlin replied.  “And you just so happened to walk away with the one thing I needed.  Oh, you’re visitors alright—sent through time, perhaps?”

Michael couldn’t hide his grin then.  He lowered his hands and drew out his own blade, a loud scrape echoing out in that building.

“Fool,” the elf spat.  “You’ve no training, and no idea who it is you’re trifling with.”

“You’re trying to ruin Christmas,” Michael replied.  “That’s all I need to know.”

Outside, Rhianna could hear the chorus of steel on steel.  She snuck around to the side of the building, and peered over, spotting those footprints that the elf had left behind.  The woman blew out a sigh, conflicted with whether she should listen to her husband.  “Just this once, Michael,” she whispered.  “Come on, you two,” Rhianna said, her gaze leading her to the forge once more.

“You are nothing!” Shathlin roared as he came forth with that sword once again.

Despite his lack of training, Michael was able to bring his weapon to bear, parrying against that onslaught of attacks.  Those swords kept singing into the stables—but the elf was done testing his foe.  With one deft sweep of his blade, he outmaneuvered the human, sending Michael’s longsword flying out of his hand.

“Just as I suspected,” that elf from the future spat.  “You lack any discipline.  And now, you’ll pay for trying to stand against me.”  He advanced on the unarmed man, then, bringing that sword closer and closer.

Michael could move no further back.  With the horse trough behind him, and wooden pillars on either side of him, his only hope was for mercy.  He put up his hands and sent Shathlin a pleading gaze.

“You should have reconsidered helping Claus,” the elf said.  “I’ll send him your regards—along with, perhaps, some of your entrails.”

Just outside the stables, the little brown dog gathered up her courage.  “I don’t know what entrails are,” she muttered, “but here are my claws!”  She raced into the building and leapt at the vile elf.

Caught off guard, Shathlin couldn’t prepare move his arm out of the way as Zelda clamped down on his bracer.  Despite her small stature, she packed a ferocious bite, and he felt it through that leather piece of armor.  Flailing about, he couldn’t escape her.  Snarling, he turned his sword toward her.

Her human only saw red after that.  Gone was any fear for himself as Michael charged in, grasping the elf by the wrist and driving forward.  That enraged attack sent the elf’s sword flying then as well, and he could feel his arm starting to bend into an uncomfortable position.

Not to be deterred, even against those odds, Shathlin grimaced for a moment, fighting against the pain in his arm.  He sent his sinister glare toward the human, the only warning he would receive before he drove his head forward, smashing it against Michael’s brow.

The man lost hold of his opponent at once, and he stumbled backward.  He was too disoriented to see as Shathlin flailed his arm enough to send the dog flying. Zelda yelped as she landed, but she was otherwise alright.

“Help!” she cried.  “Help!  My daddy is about to be pummeled!”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Michael muttered as he struggled to stand once more.

Sure enough though, that elf’s fist went flying in, and knocked the man back to his knees.

“Did you hear that?” Peanut said as she followed Rhianna to the stone entryway into the forge.  It was only then that she realized Zelda wasn’t with them anymore.  “Hey!” she cried to her mom.  “Hey!  The dog isn’t with us anymore.”

“What?” Rhianna exclaimed.

“I think she went back into the stables to help the other one.”

Rhianna looked around, lost in the confusion of all that was unraveling around her.  She found the answer to her problems when she looked up, then.  “Peanut, come here,” she said.  “I need a little bit more height.”

His head was spinning, and colors weren’t showing up the way he knew they should, but Michael fought hard to stay cognizant.  He blocked another of those vicious hooks then, and sprang up, jabbing Shathlin in the nose.

The elf used his other arm to retaliate then, spilling Michael to the floor.

“Enough!” Shathlin cried.  He ran to the man’s side, and plucked him off the ground.  A moment later, Michael’s face was submerged in the horse trough there.

“Help!” Zelda cried again.  “Now he’s drowning!”

Michael could hear the distraught pup, but beneath that water, it was obscured and warbled.  The elf pulled him up by the hair, and Michael took a deep breath.  Everything seemed foreign and distant, and he heard a buzzing just to his side.

A knowing look crept to his face then.  Shathlin pushed him toward that trough again, but Michael placed his hands on the rim and kept himself upright.  While the elf struggled, the man kicked back, sending his opponent stumbling backward.  In one fluid motion, Michael reached to his side, his fingers wrapping around the camouflaged object there.  Shathlin didn’t even think to avoid that blow, but he surely felt it.  The invisible brass object slammed into his head, and spilled him to the floor.

“Yeah, buoy,” Michael panted.  “That sounded a lot better in my head.”

Despite that tremendous blow, Shathlin labored to his feet.  “You’ll pay for that, human.  I’m going to send you back to the future piece by piece.”

Zelda gasped that next moment, and the elf looked back at her with that angry gaze he was known for.  She wasn’t looking at him though.  He turned about and noticed what she had.

“Doggy!” Zelda cried.

But it was no dog.  The reindeer she met earlier was there, and it offered the elf no warning before it barreled forward with those antlers leading.  Svetlana struck him hard, and he flung into the nearest stall with a loud grunt.

“Friend of yours?” Michael asked his pup.

“This is never going to work,” Peanut said.  “I’m a cat, and even I realize the physics won’t work!”

“Shh,” Rhianna said.  “It’s Christmas, it’s magical, it’s fine.”  She finished knotting that fabric around the large red and white post, and blew out a sigh.

The woman, nor the cat, could hold back their surprise when they saw the reindeer burst from the stables.  Even more impressive was the man and the dog on her back.

It only took Michael a few moments to notice Rhianna’s contraption, and he steered Svetlana away from the stables.  How he was able to convince the reindeer to endure the bit and bridle or that blanket that served as a saddle was lost to the woman on the ground.

She didn’t allow that curiosity to distract her.  Though Peanut didn’t have much faith in the plan, she kept to her duties, and finally rolled that snowball toward the oversized slingshot.  Rhianna bent low and scooped it up; noting that by then it was bigger than the cat.

“Need…more…upper body strength,” she groaned as she hoisted it into the air and into place on the ribbon.

Rhianna timed that feat perfectly, for the elf stomped out of the stables at that moment, eager to follow the man and his allies.  He was confused at the sight before him though, for the woman had the hammer at her side, but opted to remain behind.  Instead, she had tied together two of those large striped crooks with ribbon, and held some object aloft atop it.

She pulled back on that ribbon, keeping that cold ball of snow in between her hands.  Whether it was perfect planning—or magic, as she said to the cat—when she released her hold on that ribbon and launched that projectile across the way.

Shathlin could only stare, mouth ajar, as that massive snowball went soaring at him.  It collided into his chest, sending him flying back into the building.

Michael came back around, urging Svetlana to the front of the forge.  “That was brilliant!” he commended his wife.  He looked at the contraption, and noted the wreath lying on the ground in the entryway as well.  “Very smart thinking.”

“You seem surprised,” Rhianna teased.  She accepted his hand, and he hoisted her onto the reindeer’s back.  “I have good ideas sometimes.”

Michael reached down and plucked that hammer off the ground, passing it along to his wife.  “Let’s keep this away from Shathlin until Santa gets back, shall we?”  He turned his attention to the cat then, and extended his hand once more.  “Come on Peanut, it’s time to go!”

That finicky feline scoffed at the thought of riding on that beast.  “I’m not getting on that thing,” she protested.

Michael grumbled at his cat’s dissent.  “Zelda, a little help?” he asked.

The dog grabbed her mommy around the arm and stood up on her hind legs, then.  “Go ahead, Svetlana.  You know what to do!”

With a little grunt and a bellow, the reindeer lowered her head, and swept up with those massive antlers.  Peanut couldn’t escape them, and clung on for dear life when Svetlana was upright again.

By then, they could tell that they were no longer alone.  The furious elf was outside of the stables again, his sword drawn once more.  “You will give me that hammer!”

“You’ll have to catch us first,” Rhianna dared.

Michael clicked his tongue and squeezed his legs together, urging Svetlana around and back toward those woods where they first reconvened with their pup.  Though the reindeer had quite a burden on her back (and dangling from her antlers), she pushed through the fatigue.

Shathlin never gave up though, pursuing those fleeing humans and their pets with unbridled zeal, even as they passed between the trees.

A whistle above was the only warning he received before he saw that metal ball soaring in his direction.  “Not again,” he growled, once again accepting his fate.  That ball struck his breastplate and opened up, a net expanding out from within.  In mere moments, he was covered in those ropes, unable to pursue any longer.

As Michael slowed the reindeer’s pace and turned about, they saw a diminutive figure drop from the bough above.

“Narala?” Rhianna asked.

The gnome turned to the other time travelers and lifted up her goggles.  “You didn’t think I would make you do everything on your own, did you?” she teased.  “I couldn’t risk being seen by Santa or any of his friends, but once you brought this grouch far enough away from the cabin and the forge, I could offer a little help.”

“But how did you we’d come through this way?” Michael wondered.

“Time travel,” she said matter-of-factly.

Struggling to free himself of that netting, Shathlin let fly an exasperated cry.  “You will release me!”

“We will do no such thing,” the gnome assured.  “You’re coming back with us, and that’s final.”  Narala left him entangled there, and approached the family atop that reindeer then.  “We’re running out of time before those buoys pull you back to the correct time.  You’ve got to hurry and get that hammer back to the forge, alright?  I’ll meet you back at the workshop, and we’ll get you home with a new story to tell!”

Michael nodded and led that reindeer back through the woods and across the field, and in mere moments, they were back to Santa’s forge.  One by one they hopped from Svetlana’s back, landing in the snow just outside the building.  Michael plucked the dangling cat from the reindeer’s antlers, and tossed her onto the dry wooden floor of the forge.

While Rhianna went inside and placed the hammer on the anvil once more, Michael heard the beeping tones beside him.  “It’s time, Rhianna,” he said.  “I’ll see you in a few moments or a few thousand years!”  He hurried to her side and planted a kiss on her lips, and in that next moment, the blue light of the beacon enveloped him, and he was gone from sight.

“Get ready you two,” the woman said as her own beacon sounded off.

While Peanut paced in that forge, Zelda’s attention was elsewhere.  She looked up at the reindeer that rescued them, and tilted her head to the side.  “Thanks so much for helping us, Svetlana,” she said.  “I’m glad we met you!”

Before she could say anything more, another blue light pulsed, and Rhianna was whisked away to the future again.

The little dog sighed, and looked back to the reindeer one more time.  “Hopefully we get to see each other again!”  Her own buoy began to pulse then, and she sat down, waiting for it to take her back to her own time.  “I won’t forget you!” she called out as the blue light rippled over her.  Her voice echoed out into the area, caught in that snowy landscape.

Svetlana let fly a sad bellow, and she lowered herself to the ground.  With her new friend gone, she laid her head in the snow.

The cat, the only member of that family left behind then, simply shrugged.  A few moments passed, and she started clicking her tongue just to pass the time.  “This is where I pay for avoiding coming back here,” she said.  When her beacon starting buzzing, though, she sat up straight, and waited for her time to leave.  “I’ll tell the dog you miss her too,” Peanut said.

One last light flashed, then, and the four members of the DeAngelo family were whisked back through time, to return to whence they came.

On the edge of the forest, the gnome who brought them there watched and waited.  She saw the sad reindeer remain there for some time.  It only stood once more when it heard the approach of the man that lived there.

Narala brought a set of binoculars to her face, and looked on as Santa and his guests—including the elven ambassadors—returned to his cabin.

“I’m sorry once again for any confusion,” one of the elves said.  Beneath that calm snow, his voice seemed to travel for miles.  “One of my tribe that doesn’t quite agree with this arrangement must have created a story to put you on edge.”

“It’s alright,” Baldur, the young Santa Claus, said.  “We’re just happy that you weren’t in any danger.”  As he neared the cabin, though, he saw the strange sight of that reindeer with the bit and bridle.  “What the…?”

Svetlana walked off, back to the stables, while Santa hopped off his horse, and made his way to the forge.

“Training reindeer as beasts of burden?” the elven ambassador wondered.  “Not a terribly bad idea.”

Confused as could be, Santa was caught looking at the other things that were out of place.  He saw the ribbon tied around the candy canes, and the wreath it once hung on discarded on the floor of the lodge.  From that vantage though, he couldn’t see inside the forge though, and his heart started beating as though it would pound out of his chest.

“I want you to go ahead and look at something,” Narala whispered to the captured elf.  She handed him the binoculars, and he labored to put them in front of him.

The elven ambassador waited outside of the forge, but dismounted his own horse and surveyed the place where Santa lived.

“Everything alright in there?” he asked.

Santa breathed a sigh of relief, then, as he stood beside his anvil and placed his hand upon the hammer.  It was still there, but he could tell it had been moved from its original position.  Somehow, against all odds, it remained in his possession.

“I have something for you,” he said to his guest outside, then.  Santa rummaged around in the forge for a few more moments, but he exited the building bearing that gift.

“Look now,” Narala whispered.

Santa presented the elven ambassador with a beautiful set of armor.  Dark with ornate shoulders and lined with gold inlay, it didn’t look unfamiliar to Shathrin.

“That’s my great-grandfather’s armor,” he muttered.  “My armor.”

Narala nodded, then.  “And it’s stood the test of time.  Just like the friendship between Santa and the elves.”  She watched as he continued peering through those binoculars.  “Now then, are you ready to come back home with me?” the gnome asked.

He was quiet for some time, watching as that elf that was gifted the armor clapped his hand on Santa’s back, and swung around to walk back to that cabin.  Shathrin’s mouth hung ajar, but he finally shook his head.  “Let’s stay,” he said.  “Just for a little while longer.”

*          *          *          *          *

Hot cocoa and coffee sat side by side that morning, little wisps of smoke still rising into the air in front of the Christmas tree.  On the other side of that coffee table, the dog and the cat eagerly noshed on their treats, leaving the house sounding quiet, except for the subtle hum of the heater off to the side.

A knowing smile stretched across both the husband and wife’s faces when they heard that rapping on the door.

Michael hopped up from the couch, and made his way there, swinging the way open and looking at the front step.  Sure enough, a package was there waiting for him, a wreath with a red ribbon lying on top.  He scooped it up and brought it inside, laying it down on the table.

“What did we get, what did we get?” Rhianna asked.

Her husband set aside the wreath, and began plucking items out one by one.  Neither of them could hold back their laughter as he displayed the small headband with antlers upon it.  He giggled as he nestled it into place upon her head.

Peanut’s eyes went wide at the sight of another red ribbon, that one long and thin.  Michael let that ribbon hang from the air while she swatted away at it, her paw sending it flying with adorable little smacking sounds.

While he was distracted, Rhianna scooped up the next gift.  An old-looking tome, its front cover was written in an old runic language that she couldn’t hope to understand.  She was relieved to see English on the first page when she opened it.  “Norse Mythology,” she read, and she smiled as she saw the heart drawn onto that page, and the signature from Narala.  “Alright, we’ve got all our stuff,” the redhead said.  “What’d you get for Christmas, my love?”

He set the ribbon down and turned yet again to the box.  There was one more box inside, and he set to opening it up.  It only took a few moments for him to realize what was left for him.  “Yes!” Michael said.  “He remembered after all these years!”  He plucked the object from its container, and his wife laughed once she saw it in his hands.

“A new laptop, huh?” she teased.  “That’s got to be the longest inception ever.”

“And timed perfectly,” he agreed.

Pleased with the gifts, and excited by the memories, the DeAngelo family gathered on that couch to breathe in another Christmas.  While Michael waited for that laptop to boot up, Zelda, in all her antler-y glory laid her head on his lap instead.  Peanut cuddled up on Rhianna’s lap on the opposite side of the couch while the woman flipped through the pages of that old book.

Her eyebrow arched as she read that entry of the book that had a familiar name upon it.

“Michael,” she said.  “I think I know where Santa came from before he went to Tellest.”

Happy Holidays everyone!

The post First Christmas appeared first on Tellest.

There is a legend that exists that says this: The first snow of the winter season brings with it incredible magic, and if you see that snow falling as the sun rises, you are rewarded with a wish.

And so it was that day in that cozy corner house, where a doting husband and loving wife cuddled up beside their fluffy dog and their resistant cat.

“Rhianna, it’s snowing,” the man said.

The lady swept her lovely mane of red hair out of her face, and stood, clutching the little dog close to her chest.  In time, she reached the window that overlooked their yard, and she could not rein in that smile.

“You have to get over here and make a wish, Michael,” she bade.  “It’s the first snow of the season!”

Never one to buck her traditions, the husband rose and scooped the cat along with him.  If he had to be present for such an occasion, it was only fair that their pets both be there as well.

The fellow looked out upon that falling snow and grinned at his wife. “This isn’t one of those things where I can’t know what you wished, is it?”

Rhianna laughed and shook her head.  “I don’t think so.”  She looked down at the dog—her fur almost the same color as the woman’s hair. She pushed as far into Rhianna’s chest as she could, and she laughed as she realized she was attempting to squeeze as far away from the cat as possible.

“I wish that we could communicate with our fluffy little babies.  Would’t it be funny to hear what Peanut and Zelda thought?”

The man chortled and shook his head.  “I have a feeling we would be a little less impressed than you think.  I can just imagine Zelda now: ‘throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball!’  And Peanut?  It’d be wasted on her.  Though I guess it would be funny to hear what she says in her sleep.”

“Oh, I just want them to know we love them,” Rhianna said, rubbing her forehead against the dog’s.  She looked up at her husband, who still stared out that window.  “What are you going to wish for?” she asked.

He pondered for a moment, watching as each of those snowflakes dropped.  “Hmm,” he thought.  “This time of year, I bet it’s beautiful in Tellest.”

Rhianna just smiled and rolled her eyes.

Tellest was a world that Michael had imagined for sixteen years.  It was the world that brought the two loved ones together.  Once upon a time, Michael suggested that Rhianna utilize her artistic talents to help him bring that world to life.  They ended up finding other awesome people to help with that, and the two of them ended up forming a beautiful relationship together.  After five years together, they worked on that fantasy universe together, writing stories, creating games and gathering art.

Michael kept wearing that goofy grin, and shrugged.  “I wish that every Christmas, we could visit Tellest.”

*          *          *          *          *

A few days passed, and it was the afternoon before Christmas Eve. Michael heard the telltale buzz of his phone as he was putting on his coat.

“Hewwwoooo,” he cried as he swiped at the screen.

“Michael?” he heard Rhianna say.  “I think you should come home.”

The man arched his eyebrow.  His wife always played around when he first answered the phone.  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Well,” she said, “nothing is wrong, per se.  But you’re going to need to see this.”

The prominence in Michael’s throat dropped, and he hurried to his car.  He tried to maintain some air of composure, but he sped home faster than he should have, and when he pulled into the driveway, he nearly forgot to shift the vehicle into park before he jumped out the door.

Michael rushed to the front of the house, jamming his key into the lock and swing the way open.  He was surprised to see his wife sitting on the couch, staring at their dog on the floor.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

Zelda, their pretty little dog, turned about at once, and stood on her hind legs.  “Daddy!”

Michael smiled as the pup crossed the distance to meet him by the door.  It wasn’t until she reached him that he realized what had transpired.  His eyes went wide, and his gaze slowly drew to Rhianna, still sitting on the couch.  She passed him a knowing nod, confirming that he was not, in fact, going crazy (though some people suspect all DeAngelos are).

He cocked his head to the side, and looked at the eager dog.  “Zelda… did you just speak?”

“Woof!” the pup called out.  It was not the typical bark of the dog when she was called upon to perform her tricks.  No, she said the word—and with great pride, judging by the waggle of her rump.

“You see what this means, don’t you?” Rhianna asked.

Michael returned an absent stare as he put together the clues that he could find.  “It means your wish came true,” he mumbled.

“It means you were wrong!” his wife exclaimed.  “She hasn’t asked me to throw the ball yet!”

Zelda spun about with a gasp, and stared at her mommy.  “Ball?” she cried.

“Wait a minute,” Michael said.  “You wished for the ability to communicate with our animals.  Plural.  Is Peanut able to talk now too?”

In response, Rhianna walked to the window, and swept the curtain out of the way.

The cat was there, and she turned her head to look at the interloper to her bay window refuge.  “Ugh,” she groaned.  “What do you want?”

Rhianna gestured with her hand as if to ask if that was confirmation enough.

“How long have they been like this?”

“Since about an hour ago.”

Michael arched his eyebrow.  “That’s right about the time we noticed the snow a few days ago.”

“You made a wish too, you know,” his wife reminded.  “Did we get any tickets to Tellest lately?”

He shrugged.  “No mail today, it seems.  I don’t think it’s in the cards.”

Just then, a loud, persistent gust battered the back of the house. The french doors shuddered against that buffeting of wind, and the married couple inched closer to that area.

Against all odds, the back yard was covered in white.  Snow had fallen there in a matter of moments.

No, not fallen, they soon realized.  It was being cast out from the ground—and the large swirling vortex that was there.  The wind and snow whipped around like mad, and as more of that white stuff coated the ground and the glass of the door, visibility was limited.

“I think that’s our formal invitation,” Michael said.

“You can’t be serious,” Rhianna protested.

“Our animals are talking.”

His wife opened her mouth to argue further, but the words were caught behind her lips.  She raised a single finger and nodded.  “You make a good point.”

Beyond the glass of those doors, another sound echoed through.  It was the jovial laughter of a fellow they had heard in countless stories and recreations of holiday cheer throughout the years.

“Ho ho ho…”

“It can’t be,” Michael muttered.  He opened the door to hear the sound with more clarity.

“Merry Christmas!” he heard.

Overwhelmed with curiosity, the man opened the door.  He lifted his arm to shield his eyes from that whipping snow.  As he drew closer, he could see that the large hole that manifested in their yard held one more secret: a rippling image was displayed several feet below. A beautiful manor covered in snow with smoke billowing out of several chimneys was there, appearing as though it were on the other side of a pool of water.

While the bewildered man studied that portal to another world, the little brown dog sprinted out of the open door.  “Santa!” she cried.

Inside the house, Rhianna reached out as if the simple gesture could somehow placate the excited pup.  “Zelda, wait!”

It was too late though.  The dog leapt off the ground with glee in her eyes, and even Michael was too slow to catch her.  She descended into that hole at once, and plunged through the rippling image, until she was out of sight.

The man stood there in shock, his mouth agape.  He looked back to his wife, his slow gaze meeting hers.  She was as silent as he was, but she offered a shake of her head.  Rhianna knew that he had already made his decision though.  He forced a sigh out into the air, steam slipping into the cold from between his lips.  Without anymore hesitation, he hopped into that vortex.

“Michael, what are you doing?” Rhianna grumbled.  “I’m in pajamas!” That did nothing to stop her though, and she fumbled to put on a pair of shoes.  As she reached that opened french door, she looked to the cat in her bed on the opposite side of the room.  “Stay here, Peanut.  We’ll be right back.”  She looked to that swirling vortex and tried to bear a grin.  “At least, I hope we will be.”

She shrugged and stepped out of the house, swinging the door shut. She didn’t slow at all as she leaped into the unknown.

That door never closed properly, bouncing back open and letting the chill back into the house.  The cat sighed and rose from her comfortable bed, hopping to the hardwood floor below.  “The least you could have done was make sure you closed the door, you peasants!”  Peanut sauntered to threshold of the house, looking at the whipping wind and the hole just out of reach.  “Good riddance,” she mused.

She spun about then, and approached her food bowl—the only other thing besides sleep that truly gave her comfort and was aghast by the sight of it.

It was empty!

“Wait for me!” she cried as she sped out that open door.

The cat was the last one through that portal, closing her eyes as she took her fateful leap.

With the family of four summoned to that faraway place, the portal closed, and the snow and wind expired with one final blast of air. The door to the DeAngelo abode shut fiercely, and the yard settled back into place, though a circular outline where a deep hole once was remained there to prove the strange event that unfolded.

*          *          *          *          *

The cat tumbled forward in that odd void of gravity.  Images she couldn’t understand whipped by, until she saw one that she couldn’t help but be drawn to.  There, a lavish manor that seemed akin to a huge, longstanding hunting lodge was adorned with lights and decorations.

She was so distracted by the view that she wasn’t prepared for that liquid feeling of the exit portal.

Still, Peanut had enough sense to right herself before she landed in the snow.  With deft skill, the feline landed on her feet, and stared at her familiar loved ones.

Rhianna arched her eyebrow as she swept the snow off of her pajamas.  She lifted her gaze to meet the recently arrived cat, and clicked her tongue.

“Good riddance?” she echoed.

Peanut stood straighter upon hearing that comment.  “Oh, you heard that?” She made no further attempt to apologize, as though an acknowledgement was enough.  She sat down, despite the snow on the ground, and licked her front paws clean.  When she looked past her smirking owner, she saw Michael cradling the dog, and wiping the snow from her nose.

Rhianna walked up beside them, and dusted her husband’s shoulders clear of the white stuff as well.  “So, here’s a question that might be worth asking.  How are we going to get home?”

“A portal that opened up in our backyard just ripped us through space and time before dumping us in front of a gorgeous wintertime manor, and you’re already asking about home?”

She shrugged.  “That’s a fair point.”

By then, the dog was cleaned up, though she narrowed her eyes as the wind whipped more powder about the air.  “I’m going to put you down now, Zelda, alright?  No running off anymore.”

As soon as she was on the ground, she shook her body, discarding any of the snow that the man couldn’t get to.  When she was steady once more, she looked up.  The DeAngelo family watched as the front of that beautiful lodge was awash with a warm glow.

The door opened, and the silhouette of a man with a large form filled that broad entrance.  “Come on then,” the stranger bellowed.  “It might not seem cold in all this snow, but I assure you, a Tellest winter is a dangerous thing!”

Without any further prompting, the dog scurried off into the snow.

“Aaaaand there she goes,” Michael conceded.  “Run along with her, and I’ll get the cat,” he told his wife.

“You will do no such thing,” Peanut moaned.  She didn’t put up much of a fight though, huddling against her owner’s chest as he scooped her up.

Rhianna trudged through that snow until it covered her pajama bottoms, and soaked them thoroughly.  Before she reached the opened gate in front of the lodge, her teeth were already chattering.

Zelda, their typically skittish dog, had no qualms about prancing into the house.  The man obscured by the light took a step back and let the chihuahua slip by before turning his attention back to his other guests.

The redhead stopped just before the steps that led to that building, in awe at what she was seeing.  “It’s you.  It’s really you.”

Behind a  bushy grey beard and beneath a wide-brimmed red hat, the broad fellow bore a warm smile.  “Of course it’s me.  Who else would I be if not myself?”

Rhianna couldn’t bring herself to even blink.  “But I mean, you’re him.  You’re—”

“Santa Claus?” Michael asked as he drew close.  He wasn’t as shocked by the appearance of the fellow, and he offered a nod to him.

“And pleased to be making your acquaintance,” the very spirit of Christmas said to them.  “Why don’t you both come in and settle down with your pets, and I’ll have one of the servants prepare us all some cocoa.”

The two loved ones were surprised, as they entered the house, to see one of the aforementioned servants standing before them.  A dwarf, his head in line with the bottom of Michael’s shoulders, presented a tray before him that carried two neatly stacked outfits.

“I love new clothes,” Rhianna cried as she plucked the  one aside.

Her husband, meanwhile, released his hold on the cat, lifted the jacket that remained, and let it hang before him.  “This looks a lot like the leather jacket I have at home.  This one looks much nicer, though.  It’d be awesome if this thing fits.”

“I assure you, sir, the measurements are accurate,” the dwarf bade.

“How can that be?” Michael asked as Santa made his way deeper into the lodge.

The jolly man in red simply chortled at that cynicism, but the dwarf leaned forward, and brought his hand to his lips.  “He’s sees you when you’re sleeping.”

Rhianna nodded, as if that was all she needed to hear.

That dwarf led them to a small antechamber so that they could change out of their wet clothes into the new ones that were prepared for them.  They looked at one another, impressed with the outfit that—they could scarcely believe it—Santa had set out for them.  After only a few moments, they emerged from that chamber to find that the dwarf had gone.  A quick turn to their side showed the flickering light of a hearth, the crackle of the fire and its glow inviting.

As the husband and wife entered that sitting room, they saw the jolly, white-bearded fellow in a chair near the fire.  Zelda was cuddled up in the seat beside him, while Peanut was perched upon the arm of that chair.

“It seems they’ve taken a liking to you,” Rhianna said.

The owner of that lodge sent a bright smile her way.  “Who wouldn’t like me?” he asked.  “I’m Santa.”  Before his guests could offer up any would-be witty responses, he waved them in.  “Come in, come in. Grab a seat and make yourself comfortable.  We have some things to talk about.”

As Michael and Rhianna cozied up next to each other on the settee opposite the very spirit of Christmas, the stocky fellow leaned forward.  “So, I take it you realize your wishes have actually come true.  That must have come as some surprise for you both today.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” Michael admitted.

Santa chortled as he mused on that.  “A little honesty goes a long way,” he said.  “You weren’t brought here solely for fun and games—not entirely.  Only two of you have had your wishes come to fruition, and we must remedy that at once, though I’ll need your help for the other two.”

“The other two?” Rhianna wondered.

“Of course!” he exclaimed.  “Four DeAngelos watched the fall of that first snow and made their wish.  Just because you couldn’t understand the furriest members of your family, that doesn’t mean they didn’t have a wish.

“Take Zelda here.  What did you wish for, little one?”

The little brown pup looked up to the man in red, her tail wagging furiously.  “I wanted to fly!” she cried.

“And fly you shall, you precious little thing,” he declared.  “But that will come in a little bit.  Your mother and father are going to need to help me with a task in order to fulfill your wish.”

Zelda turned to her owners and stood up on her hind legs, batting at the air.  “Help him you two!  I want to fly!”

“What do we have to—”

Michael stopped Rhianna from finishing her question when he leaned forward.  “Wait a minute.  What did Peanut wish for?”

Santa nodded, twitching his mustache.  “Your cat?  She wished for a—”

“I didn’t implicitly wish for anything,” Peanut grumbled.  “I just… voiced my desires.”

That fellow in red let fly a tremendous belly laugh that had the cat leaping from the chair over to her owners.  “Very well then, you finicky feline,” he said.  “We shall say that  your wish has yet to be made.  It’s in reserve.”

“What did you wish for?” Michael asked the cat as he cast a sidelong glance her way.

Peanut looked at him for a moment before promptly turning away to ignore him.

Father Christmas leaned forward again, lifting his hand to shield his mouth from the persnickety cat.  “She wanted a big, tasty bird.”

“But I did not wish for it,” Peanut made clear to all the others in the room.  “I was just voicing a concern.  When is the last time any of you ever considered what I want?”

“All you want to do is sleep and eat,” Michael said.  “I thought we were fulfilling that wish awfully well!”

Rhianna swept her husband back further in his seat.  “You mentioned that you had a task for us.  What is it you needed from us?”

Santa clapped his hands together.  “Always willing to offer aid when help is needed.  My girl, that is why you’re on my nice list.”  He rose, and stood before the fire, wrapping his arms around his back and clasping them together just above his rump.  “Again, let’s step back to that honestly I was talking about.  Surely you’ve heard all the stories about me: climbing through chimneys, making toys for children—”

“Delivering them all in one night,” Rhianna added.

“Right!” he said, spinning about and pointing a finger at her.  “Now that last one is a bit of a misunderstanding.  How could one man deliver to all of those children in one night?”  Before his guests could offer up a suspicion, he smiled and stepped a bit closer.  “In this world, I’m what is known as a wizard.  Not just any wizard, mind you, but an artificer.  Your husband is no doubt familiar with the concept: I collect magical relics to help me make my tasks a little simpler.”

“Like the sack you keep your toys in,” Michael surmised.  “It’s a bag of holding isn’t it?”

“Right you are, lad.”

“And your sleigh,” Rhianna piped up.  “It can fly, can’t it?”

Santa wore a smile so bright that even his eyes seemed aglow with pride and happiness.  “Parts of it can, of course.  The parts that are fashioned from cordus trees have the ability to float, given the proper treatment.”  He waved his hand then, dismissing his own rambling.  “One of the most important pieces of my collection is this one right here,” he said, pointing to the mantle.  There, a golden bracelet wrapped in holly rested, sitting within a glass display.  “With that, I’m able to travel through time and space, and I use it all to return to that one day a year when children expect gifts and merriment.”

“A bracelet that lets you travel to other places and other worlds,” Michael echoed.  “Isn’t there another wizard who—”

“Spoilers!” Santa said as he draped his arms across his burly chest. He eyed Michael up and arched his eyebrow, but sent a knowing wink his way a moment later.  “In any case, it’s a pretty big commitment.  Nobody realizes how much work it is to make sure every child gets what they need each Christmas.”

“I always thought you had some helpers,” Rhianna said.

“Well of course!” the jolly fellow said.  “I couldn’t possibly do it all myself.  We’ve got craftsman and stable hands, and all manner of assistance.  Wintertide is meant to be a holiday that is embraced by all.  Er… that is what the people of Tellest call Christmas, my dear.”

“Alright, so where do we come in?” Michael asked.  “I’m not about to let our pup go without a chance to fly.”

“Yay!” Zelda exclaimed, leaping off the chair and jumping against her owner’s leg.

“Well then, let’s get to it, shall we?” Santa reasoned.  “I am going to be somewhat busy here through Christmas, as I’m sure you can surmise.  But there are a few things that I need to make sure the holidays go off without a hitch.  One of those aforementioned helpers, an elf named Revan, is waiting for you out in the northern tundra with a few  assistants.”

“Waiting for us?” Rhianna wondered.

“Of course,” he attested.  “Did I not mention I have mastery over time itself?”

The spouses could not tell if the jolly fellow was having a go at them, or if he was serious.

“In any case, Revan and the helpers have a few things that I need. First and foremost, they’re great alchemists.  They’re responsible for a good deal of Christmas magic, and without them, I’m not sure I’d be able to get everything done!”

“Well,” Michael mused, “how are we supposed to find them?  Even though I’ve written about Tellest, I didn’t even know you were here until now.”

“Ah, but that part of the story just wasn’t ready for you yet, lad,” the big fellow said.  “You and your wife are conduits to this realm.  When the tales are ready to be told, I’m sure you and countless others will be ready to spread the word.  And don’t you be worried about finding Revan.  That’s the trouble that I’ve already got worked out for you.  Just make sure you remember this: when you’re there, ask for the three potions.  They’ll know what it means.  While you’re there, I’m sure my other friend Leoden will want to look after the sleigh. He always pays extra attention to it around this time of year.”

He clapped his hands together, then, and proceeded further into the cabin.  His guests waited for just a few moments more before they followed him.  He waited beside the exit to the lodge, and they could see the tremendous sled that waited for them just outside the door.

“Borti,” Santa called out.  In a few moments, the dwarf they met earlier appeared from an adjacent room.  He carried that tray again, but it did not hold clothes any longer.  Instead, a sword, a quiver and a bow were stacked upon it.  “Ah, you read my mind, my friend.  You two are getting your Christmas gifts early,” he said to his guests.

While Michael beamed and scooped up the gear, Rhianna looked at Father Christmas with concern.

“This is Tellest, dear girl,” Santa declared.  “You never know what dangers there might be.  That said, where you’re going, I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about.”

“Come on, Honeybuns,” Michael said, presenting her with the exquisite bow.  “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

She sighed then, accepting the offered weapon.  He helped her drape the quiver over her shoulder, and together—with both their animals at their feet—they followed the burly man in red out into the snow once more.

As they approached the sleigh, they were stricken by how beautiful it looked.  The grain of the wood was of particular interest.  That ancient piece had no doubt seen a great many events throughout Santa’s life, and Rhianna’s mind went racing to think of all the possibilities.

“There are so many things I want to ask you before we leave,” she lamented.

“Dear girl, do you think this is the last time we’ll meet?” the jolly man asked.  “Your husband wished for a trip to Tellest every Christmas. There are many visits yet to come!  And fret not.  You’ll see me once more before you return to your home.”

She nodded as she accepted his words.  Her attention shifted to Zelda, whose ears perked up as her body straightened.  “Big dogs!” she grumbled.

Michael couldn’t help but laugh at that, because the approaching animals weren’t dogs at all.  A team of eight reindeer marched on the snow toward that sleigh, a large fellow behind them keeping them all in line by their reins.

“That’s impressive,” Rhianna said.

“That’s just Kartan,” Santa said.  “If you need a fellow who can rope eight reindeer with his bare hands, there’s no better type for the job than a haudron.  Those half-giants have got enough strength in them to do some truly uncanny things.”

Kartan led the team to the front of the sleigh, and slotted them there in place as Santa and his guests arrived there.  “Thank you my old friend,” the spirit of Christmas bade.  He turned to the couple and their pets then.  “Are you four ready?”

Michael and Rhianna nodded, scooping their animals into their arms, and sliding onto the seat of the sleigh.  The man in red with the wide-brimmed hat sidled into the seat behind them.

“You’re coming with us?” Rhianna asked.

“Just to get you started,” the jolly fellow said.

That team of reindeer walked on, pulling the hefty sleigh for a few hundred feet.  Kartan was trudging through the snow behind them, but Santa’s visitors were too busy looking at the gorgeous aurora that seemed to circle the mountain near the lodge.

Finally, the team drew to a stop, and they realized they had pulled up before a steep cliff.

“Where do we go from here?” Michael asked.

“Forward, of course,” Santa said as he stepped out of the sleigh.

Both DeAngelo spouses looked at each other with curious expressions.

“What, you don’t trust me?” Santa Claus asked.

“That’s just a cliff,” Rhianna said.  Her eyes opened wide, then, and a bright smile stretched across her face as she turned back to their host.  “Are the reindeer going to fly us to your alchemist?”

Kartan passed by on their side, and they knew that her suspicion was wrong.  He untied the team from the sleigh, never offering a word to the visitors to the unfamiliar realm.

“What’s going on?” Michael wondered.

“Don’t worry,” Santa bade.  “This is all part of the plan, and it’ll make your journey to the workshop that much quicker.  And I wouldn’t trouble yourselves with having to find your own way back.  Revan or Leoden will surely point you in the right direction back to the lodge.”

“Okay, but how are we supposed to get there without any reindeer?” Michael asked.

“Christmas magic,” Rhianna surmised.

Magic seemed to be the furthest thing from it when Kartan gave a mighty push to the back of the sleigh.  The husband and wife sat down and clutched their pets even closer to their chest.

“Now hang on,” Santa ordered.  “This next part is a little bumpy.”

“Santa is going to kill us,” Peanut squeaked from behind Michael’s arms.

“Hold tight,” Santa cried as Kartan gave the sleigh another hefty shove.

They teetered on the edge of the cliff then, and Rhianna could feel Zelda shaking in her grasp.  The half-giant clapped his hands together before placing them against the vehicle one more time.

“Wait!” Santa yelled.  He ran up behind the sleigh, and draped his arms over the back of it.  “I almost forgot the most important part. The magic that brings you there safely only works if you believe.”  He turned to Kartan and offered a nod.  The half-giant gave one last push to the sleigh, sending it off the edge of the cliff.  “See you in a few hours, no doubt,” Santa shouted out with glee.

All four of the DeAngelos screamed as they saw the jagged rocks and the icy water below them.

“I believe, I believe, I believe,” Michael said as Rhianna buried her head against his shoulder.

“Your stupid Christmas wish is going to get us all killed!” Peanut grumbled.

Just then, though, right before those deadly rocks they careened toward, a ripple of time and space appeared.  Michael breathed a sigh of relief, which all of his loved ones could sense.

Zelda perked up as they approached that portal at a rapid pace. “Yay!” the little dog cried.

All at once, the sleigh and the passengers upon it descended into that rippling vortex.

*          *          *          *          *

When they were done floating through that rift in space, they emerged far away—but still pointed down toward certain doom.  All that mirth that they had summoned upon finding the portal was thrown to the wayside as they careened toward the flat expanse below them.  All four of the visitors to Tellest screamed in unison, their voices breaking once the sleigh banged and rocked against some unseen terrain.

The icy slope caught the sleigh, and the passengers were oblivious to their subtle ramp to safety.  With their eyes closed, and all of them huddled together, none of them noticed at first when their sleigh was upright again.  They slid forward, and it wasn’t until they braved the view that they realized they were safe.

“Again!” Zelda demanded.

Another sigh of relief left the lips of the two owners, though they knew not to let down their guard after that harrowing journey—even though it only took them a few moments to arrive there.

Still, the sleigh slid forward, toward a tremendous fir tree that was adorned with ornaments and strange lights.  The sleigh slowed just as it pulled into that area, and it was only then that the passengers could feel how badly their legs were shaking.

“The old fellow didn’t warn you about the portal, did he?” they heard off to their side.

They turned to see a strange man approach them from a building nearby.  No, not a man, they realized soon after.  His pointed ears pegged him as an elf.

“Huh,” Rhianna mused.  “I always thought Santa’s elves would have been the short ones.”

The stranger walked up beside the sleigh, investigating it as he took account of the two humans and their pets.  He had an odd look about him, his arms bare in that cold, and his chest covered only by a blacksmith’s apron.

“You must be Leoden,” Michael said.  “Santa told us there would be a craftsman here who took special care of his sleigh.”

With a nod, the elf stroked his beard.  “Well, when you’re working with something this old, you want to make sure it can last even longer.  Did he tell you the story of this old piece of driftwood?”

Rhianna arched her eyebrow upon hearing it described as that.  “He didn’t.  We didn’t have much time to converse while we were there. What did you mean when you called this driftwood?”

Leoden waved his hand.  “Ah, that’s not a story for me to tell.  But you should ask him about it next time you see him.  It’s sure to be an interesting revelation.”  The elf reached out, and helped the auburn-haired beauty off the sleigh.  “No doubt you’re here to see Revan. Leave this sled in my care and I’ll have it ready to go before you’re done collecting the things you need from him.”

“Thank you very much,” Michael said.

Together, the guests of that encampment made their way around the tree, coming close enough to see all the ornaments upon it.  Little glass balls were strewn about here and there, with shining, floating creatures inside.  Other decorations, fashioned from stone or wood hung from loops of ribbon, each engraved with a heartfelt message.

As they rounded the end of the fir, they noticed a trio of large buildings that looked similar to Santa’s lodge.  All of them seemed like exquisite log cabins, though they were surely the biggest they had ever seen.

The two humans, the dog and the cat were drawn to the center building, and they were surprised to see the door open before they drew too close.

When they ventured inside, that surprise only grew.  Vials and glassware were stacked throughout the room, making the inside of the giant cabin look like the laboratory of a mad scientist instead of a workshop for tiny elves.  Swirls of color were abound in every one of those flasks, the closest row alternating red and white.

“Like a candy cane,” Rhianna whispered.

“Ah, you must be Santa’s newest helpers,” they heard.  At once, a face appeared behind one of those round glasses where clear liquid flowed.  It was awkward and shifted into an odd shape, but the visitors could see the bright smile that person wore.  “I finished the latest batch of potions just in time, it seems!”

The elf emerged from behind the row of glasses, and her expression of glee was even more pronounced, somehow.  She wore a dark green, short-sleeved cincher, with white and red striped leggings that looked like she was propped up on two long peppermints.  Light brown hair tumbled down past her shoulders, and big, happy eyes landed upon the visitors.  She was smitten at once with the little dog who felt brave enough to introduce herself.

“Gorgeous!” the elf maiden said as she dropped to a bent knee to pet the pup.

“You too!” Zelda exclaimed.

Michael shook his head as he tried to make sense of the situation. “Wait, wait… you’re Revan?”

She sprang back up, and extended her arm.  “Pleased to meet you!” He was surprised by the powerful grip, and the enthusiastic shake, but even Michael could’t hold back a smile as the exuberant elf leaped forward and wrapped his wife in a fierce embrace.  “Hope you found the place alright,” she teased.

“Well isn’t she just a ball of sunshine,” Peanut grumbled.

Revan brought her hands to her cheeks and squealed.  “Kitty!” she cried.  The cat wasn’t quick enough to bound away before she was scooped up into the elf’s arms.  Revan twisted this way and that as she squeezed Peanut until she protested with a little groan.

“So, Santa told us to mention three potions,” Rhianna said, ignoring the adorable plight of the feline.

“Oh, of course,” the elf said.  “It’s hard to forget these three—he’s been using the same lot for centuries.”  She moved over to a table on the far side of the room, and gathered up three large flasks of glowing liquid.  One glowed green, one glowed blue, and the last glowed silver.  “You see, moving around with all those goodies takes an awful lot of work.  So what we’ve done is put together a concoction that makes the task a little easier.”  She held up the blue flask, and balanced it in her hand.  “This one here makes the presents he’s put together for the children smaller.  He’ll put them in the bag and it makes it easier for him to get to.  The green potion is sort of like the antidote.  It isn’t really fixing anything, so to speak, but it’s the right amount to get them back to the right size.  Those two potions counteract one another.

“But this one right here,” she said, juggling those flasks until the silver one was most prominent, “this one is the most important one of all.  This is the one that makes things fly.”

Zelda’s ears perked up at those words, and her eyes grew wide and eager.

“Yes, little one,” Revan said.  “Santa told me all about your wish!” The maiden turned to the human visitors, and arched an eyebrow.  “Are you two alright with your little puppy getting some wings?”

“It’s her wish,” Michael said.  “Who are we to get in the way of that?”

Zelda bounced around in excitement, and was the first to follow the elf out into the snow once more.  Revan fell to her knee again, the white and red stripes on that leg settling into the ivory dusting on the ground.  She popped the cork off of the flask, and was careful to tilt the glass over the dog’s head.

“Now remember, this is pretty potent stuff.  Santa is using it for a pretty good length of time, so you only need a drop of it, and it’ll last for hours.”

That drop landed on Zelda’s head, and she crouched low as if she was waiting for it to rain on her.  She narrowed her eyes, and looked about, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  “I don’t feel any floatier,” she said.  When she saw Michael and Rhianna’s widening eyes, though, she demonstrated some concern.  She looked down, and realized that she was a few inches off the ground.  A gasp escaped her lips, and she opened her mouth into an adorable canine grin.

“Merry Christmas, Zelda!” Revan said.  “Try it out!”

The little brown dog floated higher and higher, and before long, she grew comfortable with the motions of flight.  She could pitch and roll and dive with ease, and before long she was performing tricks in the air that made it look as though she was flying for years.

“I’m getting dizzy just watching her,” Rhianna said with a bright smile on her face.  Michael stepped up beside her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“Regretting not wishing for something awesome like that?” he asked Peanut a moment later.

The cat sneered, but stared with interest at her sister.

“So, she’ll be able to do this for a few hours,” Revan said.  “Probably just long enough to get you back to Santa’s lodge, if not further. With luck, she’ll be flying through the portal back to your world.”

“She’s going to be overjoyed,” Rhianna mused.

Revan’s eyebrows went up, and she inched closer to her visitors. “Now here’s something extra we have to talk about.  We were hoping Zelda would want to use her newfound ability to help us and Santa with a little dilemma.”

“What dilemma?” Michael asked.

“Well, getting the sleigh here was easy,” the elf said.  “The portal pretty much drops it off right here without any problems.  But we need to get it back to Santa, and the portal only works in one direction.”

Rhianna arched her eyebrow.  “So you were hoping that—”

“We were hoping that she’d pull the sleigh.”

“Ha!” Peanut snickered.

“But she weighs like… twelve pounds,” Michael argued.

Revan wore as innocent a grin as she could muster, and she lifted the green potion into the air.  “She doesn’t have to be.”

“I could see this being a problem,” Rhianna muttered.  “She already thinks she’s a big dog.”

“Well, let’s see what she says,” Michael said.  “For all we know, she might not even want to do this.”  He whistled just as Zelda did a loop-de-loop in the air.

Despite her incredible mirth with being able to take to the sky, she turned toward her family, and dove toward them.

“Slow down, Zelda,” Rhianna bade.  “Slow down!”

That warning wasn’t enough to dissuade her though.  She skittered down to the ground, losing her balance at once, and rolling through the snow.

Everyone in attendance gasped except for Peanut, who crooned her neck to see what transpired not so far away from them.

“Woo!” Zelda cried.  “That was awesome!”

Michael ran to the snow-covered pup and lifted her off the ground, dusting off her face.  “You alright little girl?”

“Never better!”

He squeezed her close to his chest, noting that she couldn’t stop wagging her tail.  He had never seen it move so fast, and if he wasn’t aware of the Christmas magic, he would have suspected that rapid propelling tail was what made her fly.  “We have a favor to ask of you, puppy dog.”

“A favor?” she echoed.  “You’ve never asked for one of those from me before.”

“Think of it as a really, really amazing trick!” Rhianna said.

“I love tricks!” Zelda said.

“Well we have a really important one for you, darling,” Revan replied. “How would you like to be the one who brings Santa’s sleigh back to his lodge?”

“I could do that?  Really?”

“If you want to!  But we have to use some of this potion on you.  It’ll make you big and strong enough to pull the sleigh.”

“I’m going to be just like one of his reindeer!” she exclaimed.

“That’s right, you will!”

Revan dropped to her knee again, pulling the stopper from the green flask.  “Just like before, all we really need is one drop—more than that and there can be… side effects.  Are you ready, Zelda?”

The dog panted in reply, and put her paws on the elf’s upright knee.

“Alright then.  Hold still, and we’ll get you all set up!”

Once again, that little dog flinched as the drop of that concoction landed on her head.  Revan stood up and took a step back, and at once, Zelda noticed she was growing in stature.

“You guys look so small compared to me now.”

“This is trouble just waiting to happen,” Michael joked.

“Let’s make sure you can still fly, little one,” Revan teased.  “Why don’t we all head over to Leoden’s and see if he’s done with the sleigh?”

Sure enough, Zelda was still able to take to the air.  She pranced like one of the nine famous reindeer that was known to tug Santa’s sleigh across the night sky.  With that much glee, it was hard to catch up to her, but she settled down beside the other elf’s workshop.

“Leoden?” Revan called out.

“Just putting on the finishing touches,” he replied from within.  The doors to that building were thrust open, and a plume of steam rolled out into the snow.  Leoden lifted his goggles, and wore a wide smile behind his beard.  “Your chariot awaits.”

“That was quick,” Rhianna praised.

“Well, when you’ve been at this as long as I have, it’s almost muscle memory.  She’ll serve you and the big man well.  If he treats it right, this sleigh won’t even need to be looked at next year!”

“You say that every year,” Revan reminded.  She stepped up alongside the vehicle, and grabbed the reins, pulling them into place until she had just what she needed.  “Alright there, Zelda.  Are you ready for your harness?”

“Ready!” the eager pup replied.

Leoden walked up to the two humans, and turned them to face away from his shop.  They were almost looking back toward that huge, icy slope that they arrived on.  “So, here’s how to get back to Santa’s lodge.  If you take the sleigh just to the side of that ridge, you’ll see a big, frigid lake.  Just beyond that, there’s an ice canyon.  It’s a beautiful view, but it’s also right in line with where you need to go.  If you just follow that for an hour or so, you’ll eventually see the lodge in the distance.  This time of year, he’s got that place so lit up, you’ll see it from miles away, no doubt.”

“Thank you, Leoden,” Michael said.  “I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to get to know you better.”

He arched his eyebrow.  “You really think this is the last time we’ll meet?  You’re one of Santa’s champions now.  That’s a fellowship that you never walk away from.”

“In that case, I look forward to seeing you again,” Michael said, extending his hand.  The two shook before Rhianna moved to hug him.

When Michael turned back to the oversized pup, she was all strapped into her harness, attached to the sleigh that would take them back to Santa’s.

“She’s all set,” Revan bade.  “All that’s left to do is get you settled in and get you on your way!”

“We appreciate all you’ve done for us,” Rhianna said.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Zelda this happy—and she’s a pretty happy dog by nature!”

“Well, she must have two very nice owners then!”

Peanut, looking up at Zelda with discerning eyes grumbled upon hearing the merry speak of the humans.

“Alright, we hear you, cat,” Michael conceded.  “Everyone ready?” He scooped Peanut up, and placed her on the front bench of the sleigh, and took his place beside her.

Rhianna slipped in next, squeezing in next to her husband.

Revan approached then, with the three flasks.  “Now remember, green makes things bigger, blue makes them smaller.  The silver will make things fly.  We already dabbed the sleigh with some of that, so your little pup won’t have any problems lifting the thing!”

Leoden jogged into the workshop then, and gathered an item from the back seat of the sleigh.  “Almost forgot,” he said, presenting them with a small piece of wood with three holes in it.  “This will keep the things from sliding around.  Not our first try at this,” he informed.

“You sure have thought of everything,” Rhianna jested.

The two elves smiled.  “Alright then.  Best you get on your way,” Revan said.  “Don’t want to risk disappointing the children!”

Michael offered a nod.  “Ready when you are, Zelda.  Time to fly!” The magically grown dog took a few moments to get some traction, but after a few slips and slides of her paws, the sleigh was moving. “Happy Wintertide!” Michael called out to their two new friends.

“Merry Christmas!” the elves called back.

Zelda’s speed and strength was more than anyone expected, and in mere seconds, she pulled away from the workshop village, and into the sky.

“Do you think it’ll be a regular ride back to Santa’s?” Revan asked when the sleigh drifted out of sight.

Leoden cocked his head and wore a mischievous grin.  “When have you ever known Santa’s plans to go off without a hitch?”

*          *          *          *          *

They were making fantastic time, Michael supposed—even though he wasn’t sure how much of a journey they had left.  As the icy canyon whipped by around them, though, he thought there was no way they weren’t on schedule.

“I can’t believe I forgot my phone,” Rhianna lamented.

“Something tells me you wouldn’t get any reception here,” her husband replied.

She gave him a punch on his shoulder that was filled with mock anger.  “I would have loved to have taken pictures of everything.  Is this how you imagined the world we’ve been working on?”

He shrugged.  “I didn’t even know there was a north pole here on Tellest.  And Santa?  How was I supposed to know he was here?”

“So that begs the question: does Tellest exist because you wrote it, or did you write about it because it was already there?”

“Well, technically, it—”

“We may never know!” Rhianna interrupted.

“Are we there yet?” the cat beside them wondered.

Michael narrowed his eyes at that question, and gazed at Peanut. “Don’t make me turn this sleigh around,” he teased.  “If you’re bored, you only have yourself to blame.  Zelda made a pretty awesome wish.  How you doing up there, Zelda?”

“I’m good!” the dog hollered back.  “I just keep imagining the moon is a ball that I can catch if I just fly as fast as I can!”

“See?” Rhianna said.  “That’s a good outlook on life.”

“Ugh, I’m just so bored!” Peanut grumbled.

“We’re flying in Santa’s sleigh!” Michael protested.  “How can you be bored?”

“Take a look around,” Rhianna suggested.  “This canyon is beautiful, the icy reflections are neat to look at—and look!  There’s penguins beneath us!”

Both of the other passengers peered over the side of the sleigh to look at those cold-region birds.

“We know some people back home that would be so jealous to see them in the wild,” Michael mentioned.

“And not just any wild, but wild from another world!”

Peanut sighed and rolled her eyes, walking back to the center of the vehicle.  Her gaze was drawn, then, to the swirling contents of the flasks on the bench seat.  While Michael and Rhianna were busy peering at the fantastic surroundings, she leaped back onto the seat, and watched the potions swish with every movement Zelda made.

She couldn’t deny her feline tendencies, then.  With one quick swat, the green concoction was knocked from the stand.

“Whoa!” Michael cried when he heard the glass roll onto the floor of the sleigh.  “Peanut, we need that for Santa.”

The feline stared back at him, not at all bothered by being chastised. “I’m a cat.”

As it rolled about on the floor, Michael lunged for it, failing at stopping it a few times.  Finally, it wedged into place against the bottom of the seat, hanging off the side of sleigh.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” the man bade.  “The flask didn’t break, so as long as the cork—”

The pop of the stopper leaving the glass echoed out over the canyon. Once more, Michael lunged for the potion, but he was unable to grasp it before three drops of that bright green liquid spilled from the vial.

Rhianna muttered, then.  “Did… was that…”

“Whatever you think happened, that’s probably what happened,” Michael returned.  He held the flask aloft, praying that more of that liquid wouldn’t slosh out past the top.  “What’s the worst that could happen though?  I mean, if it drops into the water, it’ll probably just end up diluted, right?”

For a few seconds, all three of the passengers stared ahead, as though there was nothing more to be said.

Then, they heard the tremendous splashing from below.

Michael and Rhianna each ventured a glance from either side of the sleigh, and their eyes went wide at the sight of the creatures that emerged from the dark, frigid water.

“You’re seeing what I’m seeing, right?” Michael asked.

“If you’re seeing humongous, angry-looking penguins, then yes, we are seeing the same thing!”

He swallowed hard, but then turned to his wife.  “Hold this for me,” he said, handing over the green flask.  “Do not drop it or let any of it spill.  “Giant angry penguins I can deal with.  I can’t say the same for a giant angry Rhianna!”

She glowered at him, but snagged the flask with as much care as she could.  He didn’t waste too much time trying to placate her.  Instead, he reached for his hip, and tugged the sword Santa gave him out of its scabbard.  Though it was a bit of an endeavor, he kicked his boot off as well, shoving it against the front of the sleigh.

“What are you doing?” his wife asked.

“Well, I’m not going to tear up any of the clothes that Santa gave us. But these are my old dingy socks.  I’ll get new ones.”

Before Rhianna could correct herself, he stabbed the tip of the sword into the sock, and tore a hole into it.  In that condition, it was even easier to tear, and he finished the rest by hand.

“Alright, now you have one sock, but I don’t know why,” Rhianna finally explained.

It was Michael’s turn to glare.  He snagged the flask back from his wife, and balled up the torn up piece of the sock.  Careful not to be too aggressive, he stuffed that into the hole at the top of the vial, and placed it back on the stand the other two flasks sat upon.

Finally, he set his gaze upon the cat once more.  “No touchy,” he said. “There we go.  Problem solved.”

As he sat upon the seat, grabbing his boot once more, Rhianna looked behind the sleigh, and was faced with a bigger problem.

“You know those big angry penguins?” she asked.

“Yes,” Michael said with a grunt as he pulled his boot into place.

“They’re big-angry-penguining this way.”

He stood up and spun about, noticing those massive birds flocking toward them at a hurried pace.  Their eyebrows made them look even fiercer and angrier, and had Michael reaching blindly for his sword.

“Zelda,” the man yelled.  “Go get that ball!”

The pup looked back upon hearing that request, but when she saw the monstrous penguins, she broke into a hasty retreat through the air.  Those birds towered over the sleigh, and she wasn’t about to let her family fall prey to those things.

“We can’t even head up out of the canyon,” Michael grumbled.  “There’s too much ice in the way.”

Their dog pulled the sleigh up and under snowy viaducts.  Those blue and white bridges came close to the vehicle a few times, but Zelda was skilled enough to give them the berth they needed.

“Hold my hand, Michael,” Rhianna bade.

“We’ll be okay,” he assured.  He was surprised then, when she stepped over the front seat, and landed in the back.  “What are you doing?”

She responded by scooping up her quiver, and swinging it over her shoulder.

“Looking out the back?” he asked.  “You’re going to get sick!”

“I can get sick later,” she protested.

As the nearest penguin charged forward—not with an awkward waddle, but a rapid sprint—Rhianna plucked up her bow, and nocked an arrow.  It drew closer, opening its massive beak to show off the bristly, knife-like spines therein.  The woman was having none of it, though, and she loosed her missile, landing it right in the center of its preened, white feathers.

That monstrous bird let fly a painful, loud squawk, and fell from the air, tumbling down the canyon into the water below.

“That… was… amazing,” Michael declared.

She turned to him, bursting with confidence.  “Thanks.  I was aiming for its head.”

He couldn’t shield his goofy smile.

It was wiped away a moment later when Peanut piped up from beside him.

“Problem!” she declared.

Another penguin was running right up beside them.  The side of the canyon angled sharply before them, and the two humans knew that the feisty bird meant to leap from there onto the sleigh.

Michael furrowed his brow and grabbed the reins, giving them a little snap.  “Faster, Zelda.  You can do it!”

He noticed another little tug on the reins then, with Peanut holding onto those straps as well.  “No, slow down!” she chimed in.

“Don’t listen to Peanut,” Michael bade.  “When has she ever had a good idea?”

Zelda obeyed her daddy, panting as she pushed as hard as she could.

“Up, up!” Michael cried.

The penguin was right beside them as they neared the apex of the canyon.  Stalactites hung from the icy ceiling like frosty spears, and everyone on board that sleigh had to duck their heads to avoid being skewered.

It was the moment of truth.  The man brandished his sword as the penguin turned its head and delivered a menacing gaze.  It leaped, its red eyes fixed on the sleigh.  Michael cut across with the sword.

It struck out—not against the penguin, but against one of those large stalactites.  A spray of snow and icy specks cast out, landing in those beady crimson eyes the bird pointed their way.  Blinded as it was, it missed its target, and sailed through the air until it clunked against the opposite wall.

“You’ve had some practice with this, huh?” Rhianna asked.

He flashed a bright smile, and stood taller at the sound of that praise. “Actually, I was hoping I could knock the spike into the darn thing!”

“I’ll take it!” his wife declared.

With the penguins still giving pursuit, the riders knew they had to come up with another plan.

“I have an idea,” they heard.

As they realized it was their adorable dog that said that, they felt a rumbling in their stomachs.

“Why does that make me more scared than anything?” Michael wondered.

“Hold on tight,” Zelda ordered.

The embiggened dog jerked the reins to the side, then, and the sleigh was quick to follow.  As she turned in the air, the sleigh rocked and teetered to its side.  With a tremendous thump, they collided with the sloped wall on that side.  The rails on the bottom of the sleigh slid into place, and the DeAngelos shifted in their spots.

Michael narrowed his eyes and saw what Zelda was trying to do.  Far ahead, a wide aperture led out of the canyon, but there was no way they would be agile enough to sweep up in order to escape…

…unless they looped around that icy bridge that spun about the area. How Zelda had even figured out the logistics of that maneuver was beyond him.

“We’re going upside down,” he warned the other members of his family.  “When she told us to hold on tight, she was serious.”

Peanut’s eyes went wide, and she clung to the only thing she could think of.  With her claws extended, she dug into Michael’s leg.  He scooped up the three potions, and held them in as firm a grasp as he could as he dropped to the ground before the seat.  Pressing his legs into the wood before him, he locked himself into place.  Rhianna landed beside him then, and he wrapped the reins around both their arms.

“Go puppy, go!” he called out.

With that encouragement, Zelda sprinted across the wall until it reached the sloping underside of the nearest bridge.  The penguins encircling them adjusted their paths, but even they were surprised by the movements being made by their prey.  Racing down the opposite side, Zelda and the sleigh gained even more momentum until the ramp jutted upward.

All four of the DeAngelos screamed in unison as they aimed toward that narrow aperture in the icy ceiling.  Penguins flew through the air, just missing their target.

It wasn’t until the sleigh passed through the hole that Michael realized he hadn’t dared to breathe.  Forcing air through his lungs, he felt the heat come back to his body.  The sleigh righted as Zelda leveled out again, and the passengers felt relief.

Michael stood up at once, giving the reins a light snap.

“Now Zelda!” he cried.  “To the top of the canyon, to the top of the wall, back to Santa’s one and all!”

*          *          *          *          *

The burly man in red couldn’t hide his smile as he saw that sleigh soar across the sky.  When he walked out to meet them in that snowy field, though, he could tell that something was amiss.

“You made good time!” he said.  “But, what was the rush?”

“Hey there Santa, we’ve got a bit of a problem,” Michael said.

“A few drops of your growth potion might have got into the water in the canyon,” Rhianna added.

“Oh my,” Father Christmas said.  “Is there anything I should be aware of?”

“Well, I mean, this is Tellest,” Michael said.  “Surely there have been giant, dire penguins before, right?”

A jolly laugh escaped Santa’s lips then.  “I think there’s an easy solution to this.  Why, I could still have you home before Christmas Eve.”

“Really?” Zelda asked.  “What’s your plan?”

He reached up and pet the dog who stood taller than his sleigh.  But it was the smallest member of the family who his gaze was drawn to.

“This could all be fixed if you just make a wish, Peanut,” he bade.

She wore a perplexed gaze as she considered his words.  “What are you getting at, big man?”

He fell to a knee before the cat, and tousled her fur just behind her ears.  “Now, repeat after me,” he said.  “I wish I could eat a big, tasty bird.”

*          *          *          *          *

Those penguins kept charging forward, eager to find the meal that had eluded them.  They scurried through the canyon for miles, until they were upon flat ground once more.  Their red eyes were drawn to the shining lights upon that distant building.  They passed between those snowy mounds, their appetites driving them forward.

So intent on their next meal, they weren’t expecting to become one.

Suddenly, they stood in a tremendous shadow, and the moon was obscured by a new mountain—one of fur and claws and fangs.

Peanut—now twenty feet tall—looked down upon the birds and licked her lips.

*          *          *          *          *

It was Christmas morning, and Michael heard scratching at the door. He was surprised, as Zelda was still curled up in the bed.

Arching his eyebrow, he threw on his pajamas, and opened up the door.

Peanut was there, and she let fly a meow that was loud enough to have Rhianna stirring from her slumber.  The little cat—back to her normal size—skittered back into the living room, and her owner was quick to follow her.

Michael couldn’t hide his smile, as he stood there, looking at their tree.

“What is it?” Rhianna groggily asked.

He pointed to a chest that sat beneath the tree—almost an exact replica of the one that had carried Revan’s potions.  His wife ran over to it, and popped open the lid.  There, inside, were four wrapped presents, each labeled for one of the members of the family.

Rhianna handed them out, and even the animals tore away the wrapping paper.  Michael smiled when he opened his and spotted a new pair of socks.  His wife giggled when she spotted a ball for Zelda, and a stuffed penguin for Peanut.

“Catnip?” she asked, as if expecting the cat to be able to answer her still.

Peanut replied by rubbing her face into the toy’s white belly.

Michael peered over at his wife, and arched his eyebrow.  “What’d you get?” he wondered.

She unwrapped her gift, and was surprised to see an exquisite pair of archery gloves waiting for her.

As she tried them on, smiling all the while, Michael took a step forward, and noticed one more item in the chest.  He plucked out a little envelope, and the letter that was tucked inside.

“What’s it say?” Rhianna asked.  “What’s it say?”

“It’s from Santa,” Michael replied.  “He’s wishing us a Merry Christmas and a Happy Wintertide, and he can’t wait to see us next year!”

Happy holidays everyone!

The post Christmas Wishes appeared first on Tellest.

We’re planning on doing something similar next year, with maybe a little something extra as our newsletter continues to grow.  Hope everyone had a happy holiday!

Hi everyone.  I absolutely love the holidays.  That’s why at Tellest, every year, we’re going to try to do our best to spread the cheer.

This year, we’re going to start small.  We’re opening a very simple contest where you can enter to win a $25 electronic gift card to Amazon.  You can’t go wrong with that – it’s like we just gave you a fail-safe gift!

So, here are the rules of this contest:

1. What do I do?  

Tell us your favorite thing about Tellest.  It can be a particular piece of art, or a book you really enjoyed.  It can be a character that speaks to you.  There are no limits, all you have to do is tell us your favorite Tellest thing before 12:01 AM on Christmas Day (EST)!

2. How do I enter?

That’s easy!  All you have to do is shoot us an email!  In the menu bar, there is a button that you can hover over, labeled “Connect” – you can either click that, or select “Contact Us” from the drop down menu.  Let us know your preferred email address when you send us your favorite thing.  That’ll give us an idea of how to reach you if you win!

3. Bonus Entries!

We want to give our biggest fans a little boost for being so helpful to us this first big year.  So we’re giving anyone who is a part of our newsletter / mailing list an extra entry.  And, if you want to join the mailing list before you enter this contest, you’ll totally qualify.  You can find a Newsletter widget on the sidebar, or you can go to that “Connect” button in the menu bar to see the “Tellest Newsletter” in the drop down.

But that’s not all.  We’ve had a couple of other big supporters in the past year.  People who have done a considerable amount of work helping to make us look good.  These are our Kickstarter backers and our patrons over at Patreon.  If you’re one of these, you get another boost in the form of a bonus entry.  And just like the newsletter, it’s not too late to join until the contest is over!  While the Kickstarter is over, our campaign at Patreon is ongoing.  You can join it for as little as one penny a month!  Under that “Connect” button, you can see the link for our Patreon campaign.

In both of these cases, make sure when you send us your entry email that you let us know what your username is on Kickstarter or Patreon, so we can easily identify you!

Note: You must send an email as per item number 2 to qualify.  You are not automatically entered just for being on the mailing list or being a kickstarter backer or patron.

4. The Drawing.

Between Christmas Day and 11:59 PM on the 26th of December (EST), we will plug all of the entrants into a spreadsheet, making sure that bonus entries are considered as well.  We’ll use a random number function to determine who our winner is, and announce it on the website in a follow-up to this post.  After that, we’ll talk to the winner about where best to send their gift card!

If there are any questions at all about this contest, let us know.  We’ll try to be as transparent as possible with everything.  We just want to make sure everyone has a good time with it!

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